荒原上的召喚：勃朗締家族之文學志業

Interpellation on the Moors: The Literary Calling of the Brontës

英格蘭西約克郡石楠荒原之上，勃朗締牧師公館屹立其間，1820年以降，見證英國文學史之傳奇家族；呼嘯嶺上，自然荒原與工業廠房之間，躁動不安的靈魂存焉。本研究試圖探討兩位勃朗締家族人物：派翠克‧勃朗締與夏洛特‧勃朗締，剖析其文學志業之艱辛追尋過程中，不時隱現之主體召喚。身為該傳奇家族之奠基者，派翠克‧勃朗締出身北愛爾蘭佃農之家。身為長子，派翠克刻苦自勵，創立小學，授課謀生。並於任職家教時，蒙貴人賞識，受推薦以公費生資格，入學劍橋大學聖約翰學院，於二十五歲之齡，離鄉背井，揮別北愛故土。虎父故無犬女，夏洛特‧勃朗締於二位長姐不幸早夭後，可謂長姐如母，羽翼一窩弟妹。為求立足社會，夏洛特謀劃全家生存大計，首要任務便是投資自己。於是，她企劃重洋遠渡，攜手胞妹艾密莉，負笈比利時，深造外語。苦於盤纏無著，長女夏洛特捎信姨媽，以大義凜然之語氣，義正詞嚴，央求借貸。姨媽慷慨出資，彷彿一場及時雨，幡然改寫勃朗締姊妹命運，從傳統維多利亞社會之家中天使，一躍成為英倫文壇之冉冉女角。一如派翠克揮別北愛故土，負笈英倫，落腳西約克郡豪沃斯牧師公館，其女夏洛特與愛密莉，攜手披掛蒼海，重洋遠渡，負笈歐陸，追尋其命途仙鄉。藉由時代歷史、人物傳記、小說文本之交互映證，本研究探索：維多利亞時期，主流自助意識形態，對勃朗締家族文學志業之聲聲召喚，以闡明垂遠石楠荒原之上，勃朗締一家躁動不息、奮進不羈的靈魂。

The restless spirit manifests itself bravely and brilliantly on the heathery Moors surrounding the legendary household of letters that English literary history is known to witness. This research attempts to investigate the subjective interpellation embodied in the undefeatable literary enterprise of two Brontëan figures: Patrick Brontë and Charlotte Brontë. The former made it possible to shake the Irish dust from his feet and was admitted to the University of Cambridge as a sizar at the age of 25 from his poor peasant family of ten children in Northern Ireland. The latter, following and furthering the footsteps of her father, mustered her courage to write her aunt an urgent letter of private financing, a letter that did not bewail actual miserable poverty of its addresser but rather launch a sea-changing odyssey that metamorphosed all three Brontëan sisters into “women of lettres,” in lieu of genuine Victorian “angels in the house.” As Patrick Brontë’s journey to England from Ireland brought him to settle down at the Haworth Parsonage in West Yorkshire, so did Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s voyage to Brussels guide them step by step onto the world stage of literature. It is through textual, historical, and biographical inter-illumination that this study endeavors to examine the literary calling of the Brontës vis-à-vis the interpellation of Victorian ideology so as to cast light on the Brontëan outlandish geniuses yearning on the moorish wilderness.