狄更斯小說的衛生美學與社會實踐：《孤雛淚》的妓女議題與道德政治

Aesthetics of Sanitation and Social Practice in Dickens’s Fiction: Prostitution and Moral Politics in Oliver Twist

本文企圖討論狄更斯小說中對於妓女的描繪、他多年親自參與營救與改造妓女及同時期的醫學論述，以論證何以維多利亞時期的醫療論述只看到女體而未曾看到病菌。他不若同時期不少社會觀察家熱衷觀察記錄妓女，作品中出現的妓女角色也經常隱諱帶過，不刻意突顯妓女工作的細節與職場生態。但小說家發自關懷的人文書寫風範，卻明顯地與立基於特定立場的性病研究與治療不同。他最具代表性的，是貧窮困苦的社會底層書，這其中所傳遞的人文關懷也是狄更斯廣受稱頌的關鍵因素。此外，小說中的社會關懷開啟了科學與人文兩道看似衝突的文明發展脈絡交錯融通的可能。他點出，貌似嚴守工具理性準則的醫療論述事實上是建立在種種偏見與歧視的預設立場，並透過人文的關懷將兩道論述路徑轉化為具有普世關懷對象與落實力道的社會實踐。

This paper conducts a comparative reading of Dickens’ description of prostitutes in Oliver Twist, his involvement with the rescue and rehabilitation of prostitution at Urania Cottage, and medical discourse of sanitation in order to scrutinize the mentality in seeing the body but not observing the viruses within. Dickens revealed a realist approach in integrating the scientific narratives of morbidity with the humanistic accounts of compassion: first by distancing medical professionalism from moralist accounts of degeneration and then by transforming compulsory treatment of diseases of filth into social practice. By satirizing the precondition of stereotype based on falsely summoned instrumental rationality, Dickens highlighted the enlightenment fallacy built upon cosmic order of matter in place. Allocating his panorama array of characters to problematized scenario of contagion, the novelist materialized the humanitarian tradition of realism to the activation of benevolent practice. He garnered the momentum of negotiation and transformation both in his fictional world and the society. Dickens’ altruistic accounts of civilizing the potentially diseased bodies and liberating from restricted preferences contributed directly to the convergence of the two cultures of science and humanity.