「花精真的存在嗎？」從巴拉德的「能動的實在論」看邱常婷《新神》中的悲苦人物如何遇見

“Does the Flower Sprite Really Exist?” Reading the Sufferers’ Encounters with Gods in Chang-ting Chiu’s The Emerging Gods from the Perspective of Karen Barad’s Agential Realism

本文以巴拉德的理論為基礎，探討邱常婷在中篇小說集《新神》中如何透過描寫臺灣各地悲苦人物的人神際遇拼湊臺灣正統歷史論述之外的真實文化全貌。「緒論」除了簡介《新神》，將其定位為近年來逐漸成形的臺灣妖怪學創作，並因此確立本文所要探討的研究目標：以臺灣志異作為反映臺灣真實文化內涵的意義，以及以巴拉德的新物質主義理論作為新神文化研究之理論根據的必要性。在「我們為何需要新神？」的段落裡，本文論證以新物質主義重啟神學研究的必要性，以解釋何以市井小民的信仰只能是新神的信仰、他們的神說鬼話又是如何具體反映臺灣真實的文化風貌。在「眾新神」的段落中，本文則以巴拉德的理論為基礎，進入具體的小說文本分析，以展示《新神》中的悲苦人物如何透過信仰的物質內造運動遇見新神並得到救贖。「結論」除了總結邱常婷的《新神》創作對文學與文化的貢獻，也再次強調巴拉德的理論對閱讀《新神》及其透過臺灣志異拼湊臺灣文化寫實的重要性。

This paper studies Chang-ting Chiu’s The Emerging Gods on the basis of Karen Barad’s theory, with a particular interest in Chiu’s attempt to map out Taiwan’s hidden reality by narrativizing social subalterns’ encounters with emerging gods. The first section gives a brief introduction to this collection of novellas, locating it in the line of Taiwan’s yokai studies, a recently-formed school of literary research and creative writing. Based on Barad’s new materialism, I argue that these novellas’ significance lies in their reflection of Taiwan’s culture. In the section “Why the Emerging Gods?”, this paper argues the significance of a material-based theology where ordinary folks’ encounters with emerging gods can be justified and consequently offer an authentic rendition of Taiwan’s reality. In “The Emerging Gods,” this paper conducts a close reading of the collection in terms of Barad’s theory so as to reveal the characters’ encounters with the emerging gods as a process of material intra-action. In the conclusion, the paper reaffirms the collection’s contribution to Taiwan’s literature and cultural development as well as restates the importance of employing Barad’s theory to appreciate Chiu’s revelation of the Gothic dimension in Taiwan’s literature.