庫雷西《親密關係》中的父權、親密關係與自白

Patriarchy, Intimacy, and Confession in Hanif Kureishi’s Intimacy

庫雷西的中篇小說《親密關係》（1998）是一部第一人稱的自白書寫，講述了主角傑伊離開他的孩子和他們的母親——他的伴侶蘇珊的決定。傑伊因無法忍受他們生活的停滯而對蘇珊失去了熱情。儘管他仍然愛著孩子們，但傑伊想要離開蘇珊，與看似溫順的妮娜在一起。雖然庫雷西的獨白風格明確表達了傑伊對蘇珊的不滿，使得他離開的決定沒有太多懸念，但他對孩子的感情、對親密關係的思考、對女性角色的各種評論以及對男性朋友親密關係的反思，使這部小說變得非常複雜。一些評論家批評傑伊的男性自私、厭女和反女性主義，甚至將傑伊與同樣離開前女友的庫雷西等同起來。其他人則關注傑伊的矛盾特徵——他有勇氣坦白和離家，但同時也表現出自私、殘忍和不成熟的態度。本文試圖從父權結構的延續來探討傑伊的親密關係和自白書寫環環相扣的關係。筆者認為，將傑伊標籤為厭女者或英雄並不能解釋他的男性氣質出了什麼問題，也不能解釋為什麼男性氣質，而非女性氣質是傑伊親密關係問題的核心。通過男性氣質和父權制彼此糾葛的研究，作者認為男性支配、認同男性與男性中心可能是一些男性在親密關係中無能為力，必須依靠自白書寫來重獲自我／權力的原因。通過對自白書寫和親密關係的研究，性別差異和父權制將從傑伊的敘述中揭示出來，從而展示父權體制下環環相扣的男性氣質、親密關係和自白書寫。本文探討了傑伊如何成為父權制的受害者/加害者，以及為什麼他的自白書寫和離家出走重新確認了他舊有的自我，並將他塑造成一個父權社會中的角色。在這個社會中，他通過擁抱男性中心的價值找到了最小阻力的道路。

Hanif Kureishi’s novella Intimacy (1998) is a first-person confessional writing that presents the protagonist Jay’s decision to leave his children and their mother—his partner Susan. Jay loses enthusiasm for Susan since he cannot bear the stagnation of their life. Even though he still loves the children, Jay wants to leave Susan and be with the seemingly docile Nina. Although Kureishi’s monologue style makes explicit Jay’s dissatisfaction with Susan, so that his decision to leave does not have much suspense, his feelings for children, thinking about intimacy, varied comments on female characters, and reflections on his male friends’intimacies make this novel highly complicated. Some critics have criticized Jay for his masculine selfishness, misogyny, and anti-feminism, or even equated Jay with Kureishi, who also left his ex-girlfriend. Others have focused on Jay’s contradictory traits—his courage to confess and leave home, and his selfish, cruel, and immature attitude. This paper explores the interlocking relationship between Jay’s intimacy and confessional writing in terms of the lingering structure of patriarchy. The author believes that labeling Jay as a misogynist or a hero does not explain what is wrong with his masculinities and why masculinity, not femininity, is the crux of his intimacy problems. Through the study of entanglements between masculinities and patriarchy, the author believes that male dominance, identification and centeredness may be the reason why some men are impotent in intimacy and must rely on confessional writing to regain their self/power. Through studies of confessional writing and intimacy, gender differences and patriarchy will be revealed from Jay’s narratives, thus showing the interlocking relationship between patriarchal masculinity, intimacy, and confessional writing. This paper explores how Jay becomes a victim/perpetrator of patriarchy, and why his confessional writing and home-leaving reaffirms his old self and conducts him into a patriarchal society where he finds his path of least resistance through embracing male-centered values.