台灣還有救嗎？──論李喬晚期小說的核心母題

Can Taiwan Be Saved? Core motifs in Li Qiao's Late Novels

2010年前後，擱置長篇創作已久的李喬（1934-）重新提筆，懷抱著「最後一部」的意志，展現出旺盛的創作能量，成果豐碩，如「幽情三部曲」：《咒之環》（2010）、《V與身體》（2013）、《散靈堂傳奇》（2013），以及2017年出版的《亞洲物語》，這些作品的美學風格，與李喬一九八○年代知名小說「寒夜三部曲」迥異。對於這些作品，李喬曾以「晚期小說」自我定位，若干評論者則以「晚期風格」來論述，本論文亦援用。李喬小說「晚期風格」的特質，具體而言體現在幾個面向，其一，小說的內容，幾乎都在回應並衍繹台灣的現實；其二，小說的具體思考，都在尋找台灣的救贖之路，並且提出一套新的世界觀與國家觀，同時深具文化論述意涵；其三，然而，另一方面，小說卻是以相對抽離現實生活、具有高度的政治寓言性的手法，來表現作者對台灣現實的關切，形成非常有趣的張力；其四，李喬在這幾部小說中，大玩美學形式遊戲，幾乎每一部都嘗試不同的藝術手法；其五，小說中的藝術美學，並非做為「形式裝置」而孤立存在，而是內容與思想的載體。如果用一句話，總結李喬小說「晚期風格」的內容與形式特質，那就是，在內容上，李喬想問的是：台灣還有救嗎？如何救？在形式上，「作者現身」的後設性、敘事觀點的眾聲喧嘩，一再「踰矩」、「離經」，是其「晚期風格」的美學特色。

"Having long stopped writing panoramic novels, at a time around 2010, Li Qiao retrieved his pen. A rigorous amount of new works demonstrated his high-spirited creativity: the so-called 'Sentimentality Trilogy' --The Ring of Curse (2010), V and His Body (2013), Legends of Funeral Homes (2013), and, more recently, Tales of Asia (2017). With strong will for composing the 'final opus,' Li Qiao impressed readers by aesthetic styles different from those in his earlier masterpiece Wintry Night Trilogy. Facing these new novels, Li Qiao once used 'late novels' to define. Likewise, some reviewers employed 'late style,' a term that this paper will appropriate, too. The characteristics of Li Qiao's 'late style' can be examined from several aspects. First, most of the content not only responds to but also transmutes Taiwan's reality. Second, in these novels, concrete thoughts are given in order that they can help orient pathways towards Taiwan's redemption-meanwhile, a new paradigm as how a world and a country should be is thoroughly discussed in cultural discourse. Third, nevertheless, these novels do not mirror reality. Instead, they are detached from real life because Li Qiao adopts highly political allegories to show his concerns over present Taiwan, a technique that procures very attractive tension. Fourth, it is clear that novelist Li Qiao enjoys playing on aesthetic forms; each novel is wrapped with different artistic norms. Fifth, such artistic aesthetics does not live for the form only, neither is it isolated. On the contrary, aesthetics in Li Qiao's late novels serves as the vehicle for his content and thought. If we can use merely one sentence to conclude the characteristics of Li Qiao's late style, that will be: in the content, what Li Qiao wants to ask is 'Can Taiwan be saved?' 'How?' In the form, significant aesthetic qualities in Li Qiao's late works include a meta-discourse 'author speaks,' polyphonic narrating views, constantly 'breaking rules' and 'countering orthodox.'"