| 英文摘要 |
This paper explores Forster’s conception of subjectivity, which he takes as being crucial to his ambiguous treatment of personal relationships in Howards End. In this novel, Ruth Wilcox’s escape from the representation by baptism, marriage and funeral inspires Margaret Schlegel with a new conception of human beings and personal relationships, which is conveyed, however obliquely, by the bewildering “hope . . . on this side of the grave.” To decipher what conception is concealed in this hope, this paper examines Forster’s presentation of these social conventions and argues that they are all inscribed within an operation of self-annulment, just as is, for Derrida, a text’s meaning. This suggests that Forster, like Derrida, also takes subjectivity as differance. This conception is further illustrated in a reflection on the essential nature of matrimony, which is extended to other social traditions but with its meaning indefinitely deferred, differant. In conclusion, this paper argues that Forster’s obscure perspective on human relations in this novel actually originates in his awareness of the differance of reality, its structural obscurity which can never be made fully evident. |
