植物倫理、植物情動與生成植物：生態女性主義論韓江的《素食者》與〈我妻果實〉

Plant Ethics, Vegetal Affect, and Becoming-Plant: An Ecofeminist Reading of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and“The Fruit of My Woman”

本文透過植物情動、生態女性主義與批判植物研究分析2024年諾貝爾文學獎得主韓江的《素食者》與〈我妻果實〉，探討女性變形／生成為植物如何成為抵抗父權意識形態與資本主義肉食文化的策略。本文首先透過馬德與法蘭西奧尼對植物倫理地位的辯證，結合素食生態女性主義視角，梳理植物與動物研究在倫理關懷上的理論張力與潛在互補性。其次，本文分析《素食者》作為一部生態女性主義文本，說明動物的凝視如何促使英惠拒絕肉食，加上植物繪畫如何激發她對植物生命的情動回應，突顯植物與動物倫理關係的交錯。第三部分，文章處理《素食者》與〈我妻果實〉中女性流變生成／變形為植物所呈現的「思考植物」意義。本文最終主張，在承認所有潛在食物皆為具感知能力生命體的前提下，唯有重新思索人與多於人生命的關係，方能實踐真正具倫理深度的飲食選擇與後人類倫理框架。

This article examines Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and“The Fruit of My Woman”through vegetal affect, ecofeminism, and critical plant studies, analyzing how the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate portrays women’s metamorphosis into and becoming plants as a form of resistance against patriarchal ideology and capitalist meat consumption. Drawing on Michael Marder and Gary Francione’s debate over the ethical status of plants, and incorporating insights from vegetarian ecofeminism, my article first elucidates the theoretical tensions and complementary potentials between plant and animal studies in terms of a renewed ethics. The second section analyzes The Vegetarian as an ecofeminist text, demonstrating how the animal gaze compels Yeong-hye’s rejection of meat and how botanical illustrations activate her affective response to plant life, highlighting the entanglement of plant and animal ethical relations. The third section examines the significance of“think[ing]-the-plant”as expressed through the metamorphosis or becoming-plant of female figures in The Vegetarian and“My Wife’s Fruit.”Fundamentally, the article argues that only by rethinking the relationship between humans and more-than-human life, while acknowledging all potential food as sentient beings, can we construct ethically grounded dietary choices and realize a truly posthuman ethical framework.