創傷、敘事及精神分析:以拉岡精神分析觀點再思梅爾維爾之《白鯨記》為創傷敘事

Abstract

本論文試圖以拉岡精神分析的觀點將赫爾曼•梅爾維爾的《白鯨記》詮釋為一創傷敘事。文中指出學者們對這本小說的研究聚焦於敘事結構與敘事策略，而此兩大問題其實都與創傷密切相關。重新以精神分析的概念（如真實、小對形）思考創傷的本質，有助於重新詮釋小說中諸多關於鯨魚的章節；這些章節看來與敘事者歷劫歸來的主線故事目的相違，但實則不然。同時，如此思考也提供了一個新的觀點，來解讀敘事者為何採取如此迀迴繞行的敘事策略。 論文共有三章。第一章處理敘事身分的問題，特別著重在回溯倖存者船難後的生活，並指出敘事中的強迫行為在此就可觀察到。為了理解這種強迫行為，本章進一步討論精神分析裡重複強制此一概念，並檢視拉岡如何重構此概念與創傷之間的關係。拉岡指出，創傷是一種與真實擦肩而過的遭逢；第二章針對此一說法加以闡釋，並探討此一遭逢如何產生一個創傷性的剩餘，其功能如同拉岡對小對形的描述。此一特殊物以鯨魚的形貌出現，成為倖存者生活中與敘事裡迷戀�強迫的對象。在他的敘事裡，可見為了捕捉（或再現）小對形而開展的欲望，而小對形則化為觀看出現。最後一章則剖析敘事者如何展開繁複的表意活動，不但為了捕獲心中的鯨形更為了虜獲小對形。此舉引發了眼睛與觀看之間的搏鬥，讓敘事者面對了來自觀看的殲滅效果。本文的結論則思考《白鯨記》作為一創傷敘事既是一則個人悲劇也是一個普遍經驗。

In this thesis, I aim to reconsider Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick as a trauma narrative, especially from the perspective of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic insights. I argue that both the narrative structure and the narrative strategy—two problems that concern the Melvillean scholars most regarding this novel—are intimately related to trauma. Rethinking the nature of trauma through psychoanalytic concepts such as the real and the object a, in my view, affords an alternative interpretation of the cetological chapters which do not seem to serve the purpose of the survival tale told by the narrator. Meanwhile, it offers a revealing perspective on why he narrates in such a roundabout and circuitous way. The thesis consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I revisit the problem of narrative identity, with a special interest in retrieving the survivor’s life after the shipwreck. I maintain that the compulsive behavior observed there finds its way into the narrative. To advance our understanding of this behavior, I move on to investigate how the concept of the compulsion to repeat is analyzed in psychoanalysis, with an aim of examining how Lacan reformulates this concept and bears it on trauma. Trauma, as Lacan characterizes, is the missed encounter with the real. The subsequent chapter is devoted to exploring how this missed encounter produces a traumatic residue which functions like the Lacanian concept of the object a. This special object appears in the form of the whale and becomes an object of obsession both in the survivor’s life and in his narrative. And I argue it is in his narrative that we see a full display of the unconscious desire to capture, or to represent, the object a as the gaze. In the final chapter, I set out to dissect the elaborate signifying practice the narrator deploys with a view to not only capturing the whale in his mind but also subjugating the object a to the signifying chain. What incurs is a battle between the eye and the gaze, and what confront the narrator at the end of his narration are the annihilating effects of the gaze. To conclude this thesis, I reflect on how the narrative can be regarded as both a personal tragedy and a universal experience.