黑格爾視域下的弗蘭克・巴斯康布自我意識研究——以理查・福特《獨立日》為中心

A Hegelian Reading of Frank Bascombe’s Self-consciousness in Richard Ford’s Independence Day

本文旨在以黑格爾（G. W. F. Hegel）的自我意識理論為理論框架，對理查‧福特（Richard Ford）1995年出版的《獨立日》（Independence Day）進行細讀分析。該小說為「弗蘭克・巴斯康布（Frank Bascombe）系列」的第二部，前有《體育記者》（The Sportswriter，1986），後續包括《現狀》（The Lay of the Land，2006）、《讓我坦率地說》（Let Me Be Frank With You，2014）及《屬於我》（Be Mine，2023）。依據黑格爾關於自我意識的基本定義，個體須通過他者的自我意識來實現自我之確證，而這種他者關係最好建立於深層的精神與情感紐帶之中;在黑格爾看來，家庭成員正是此類關係的典型代表。本文認為，弗蘭克・巴斯康布在《獨立日》中反覆出現的失落感與身份危機，可能根源於他與安・戴克斯特拉（Ann Dykstra）的離婚——即他失去了做為「他者」的黑格爾式自我意識來源，從而與唯一能通過家庭之愛獲得自我認同的原初場域（家庭共同體）相分離。因此，本文試圖從黑格爾自我意識理論的角度，重新解讀弗蘭克・巴斯康布在《獨立日》中的自我追尋，揭示家庭喪失對其主體建構的深遠影響，並提出一種基於黑格爾家庭自我意識重要性的全新闡釋路徑。

This article aims to provide a close-reading analysis of Richard Ford’s Independence Day (1995), the second Frank Bascombe book, preceded by The Sportswriter (1986) and followed by The Lay of the Land (2006), Let Me Be Frank With You (2014) and Be Mine (2023), in the light of Hegel’s theory of self-consciousness. According to the primary definition of Hegelian self-consciousness, one is required to gain their recognition of their self through another individual’s self-consciousness, most preferably an individual in a deep spiritual as well as emotional relationship, of which, in Hegel’s view, one’s family members could serve as the best example. This article argues that one possible reason for Frank Bascombe’s constant feeling of loss and identity crisis in Independence Day might lie in the fact that his divorce from Ann Dykstra, his supposed Hegelian source of self-consciousness as an other, has separated Frank from his only origin (the family union), from which he could gain his self-consciousness through familial love. Thus, this article attempts to offer a Hegelian reading of Frank Bascombe in Independence Day by pinpointing the significance of his family loss, along with proposing a different model for interpreting Bascombe with regard to the importance of Hegelian self-consciousness within the family.