捨帝國就靈性：談《金姆》小說中的靈性

The Triumph of Spirituality over Imperialism in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim

評論普遍認為，殖民文學的詮釋角度，適合從政治方面切入。然而，這樣的詮解有時候會產生一些問題，也常常忽略了文本中的其他主題。吉卜林的《金姆》一書中，正巧彰顯了這個問題。此小說中的故事以雙線情節進行，一面描述金姆介入帝國主義的“大遊戲”中，一面娓娓道來金姆隨著西藏喇嘛尋求聖河的靈性之旅，兩線交錯重疊，彼此競爭書中的主線。一般認為，吉卜林是殖民主義時期的作家，也是英國殖民帝國的鐵桿支持者。更有甚者，吉卜林的作品當中，也不乏贊成殖民主義的情緒言論，並且乍看之下，似乎也支持從東方主義中的角度觀察亞洲。但是，本篇論文針對此類過度簡化的詮釋，提出質疑，並評論在吉卜林《金姆》書中，強調這類過度簡化的詮解，會忽略了吉卜林書中對形而上學的探討。因此，本篇論文將論述《金姆》一書中兩個價值觀，也就是靈性追求與帝國主義的掠奪的對立衝突。本篇論文認為，若是以“東方主義”的觀點，觀看這本小說，則西藏喇嘛的尋求聖河的靈性之旅，主客易位，一變成為小說主人翁金姆的大遊戲之旅。本篇小說結尾采開放式結論，文末並沒有交代主角金姆的最後抉擇。然而，本篇論文嘗試揭櫫此篇小說的靈性面相，期許有助於了解吉卜林對當時世界的另一個觀點，此一觀點一則彰顯了他對印度文化的深刻了解，特別是對佛教觀點的了解，一則顯示作者內心，與其說他接受基督教的神學觀，不如說作者更認同佛教的圓融的哲思。

A prevalent theme of colonial literature is to read texts from a political point view; however, this type of reading can sometimes be problematic and often overlook other major themes within texts. A good example of this conflict in action is Rudyard Kipling‟s Kim. Two major plot lines within the novel that overlap and compete for dominance are Kim‟s involvement in „the great game‟ (Britain‟s imperialist struggles), and Kim and the Tibetan lama‟s spiritual quest to find the holy river. Admittedly, Rudyard Kipling is well-known as both a colonial writer and a staunch supporter of the British Empire. Moreover, Kipling‟s works abound with examples of pro-colonial sentiments, and at first glance seem to support an Orientalist view of Asia in general. However, this paper disputes such a simplistic interpretation of Kipling, and focuses on the novel Kim to highlight how such overgeneralizations detract from other aspects of Kipling‟s metaphysics; in particular, Kim and the lama‟s spiritual quest within the novel. This paper will thus focus on the two conflicting forces at work in Kim: spirituality versus imperialism. It is the opinion of this paper that an Orientalist reading of the novel patronizes the spiritual aspect of the Tibetan Buddhist lama‟s quest and over-emphasizes the importance of the great game in the life of the protagonist Kim. As the ending is open-ended, no conclusion can be reached with certainty about the ultimate choice that Kim will make; however, this paper aims to highlight the seriousness with which the spiritual element of the novel should be taken, and as such strives to expose another side of Kipling‟s world view, one that shows both a greater understanding of Indian culture (particularly Buddhist thought) than he has previously been given credit for, and a deeply spiritual side of Kipling that appears to side more with Buddhist philosophy than Christian theology.