闡連與退轉之共在:論貝克特無名者裡的語言與存有

Abstract

本文旨在透過探討薩謬爾˙貝克特「無名者」小說裡語言與存有之間的互聯關係，進而重思貝克特創作形式與其引申內容的依附與分合。過去有關貝克特的主流研究文獻傾向於環繞在文本的延異態勢，討論方法易於建立在以否定作為趨力的邏輯運作上。相對於此種閱讀方式的方法則著重在情境的倫理解讀，將敘述者的詰問與不定理解為某種生命狀態的彰顯。本文試圖從這兩種閱讀模式的交界處作為出發點，探討「無名者」中具有反身潛能的「臨界存有」(critical ontology) 之浮現，來詮釋貝克特作品裡的「弱正性」(weak positivity) 如何讓意義與自身為鄰，使意義的未明不只是被形塑為語意裡的變因，一種借代式的虛位，而是源自於對自身邊界的掌握過程。 第一章援引雅各˙德希達「屬名」(signature) 之概念作為楔子，討論脫離解構主義脈生的否定運作框架之可能，來解釋貝克特作品裡的可說 (the sayable) 與不可說 (the unsayable) 之共存。本文試著透過莫里斯˙布朗肖提出的「中性」(the neutral)與「界限經驗」(limit-experience) 來觀看貝克特作品，將其視為對於「鄰於代現之空白」(the void beside representation) 概念的集結反應。藉由討論小說中敘述者與其論述的連結與阻斷關係，來思考界限經驗裡從標記作用到成為可言說經驗之前的過渡，與意義在隱蔽與開敞之間的擺盪運作。貝克特作品裡意義的未明不僅僅是以辯證為趨力，而是指向其可能觸碰的空間範疇，反映藝術形式與內容的相互參照。 延續前一章的討論，第二章援引喬吉奧˙阿甘本對存有於語言中的「嬰式潛勢」(infancy)來分析小說裡肯定與抵抗態勢之共存。透過探討小說提及的各式沉默與種種賦形 (figures) ，試論它們旁於自身述語之現象。此現象牽涉到小說裡呈現的可運作的時間性，能使現下時刻與過往時刻產生參照作用，卻不以完全實現為目的，因此讓語言與其指涉能以非全然疊合的方式，交會於各自騰出的位置旁。貝克特作品裡呈現出的此類形式與內容的交錯能動性，讓作品本身不只是某種倫理式、互文式、或傳統存有學式論述的發揮素材，而是藉由各種處理代現旁空白處之方式，來思考貝克特藝術形式與內容的錯落關係如何映照言說者與其語言之交會態勢。

This thesis aims to ponder the co-existence of non-articulation and articulation between Samuel Beckett’s literary forms and artistic contents by engaging the discussion and exploration on the correlation between language and being in The Unnamable. Mainstream studies on Beckett have been focusing on the textual differences based on the logical mechanism binding with the principle of negativity; other routes to approach Beckett’s work are inclined to conduct ethical readings by thematizing the aporetic phenomenon of the narrator as a particular state of affairs. This thesis attempts to situate the novel at the intersection of these two ways of reading, exploring the critical ontology residing in The Unnamable, and the weak positivity registered with the event of meaning taking place in a form of withdrawal from linguistic variables. Chapter One refers to Jacque Derrida’s account of “signature” as a starting point, exploring other possible interpretations, departing from the lurking negativity residing in deconstructive reading toward the co-existence of the sayable and the unsayable in the novel. To expose and explore the relevant discussion on the void beside the representation as what Beckett intends to respond to in his work, I endeavor to examine and reconsider the idea of the “neutral” and “limit-experience” proposed by Maurice Blanchot from his theoretical conjunction with Beckett. Approaching the relation between the narrator and the narrative of the novel as what exposes the passing from the marking of limit to the experience of limit, I argue that the oscillation between the movements of concealment and exposing in the novel are not merely motivated by dialectic intention. What can be entailed from such gesture of withdrawal is to unfold the zones toward which Beckett’s literary forms are capable of referring to. Following the train of thoughts developed in Chapter One, Chapter Two draws on Giorgio Agamben’s idea of infancy to explicate the co-existence of affirmation and resistance in the novel. Exploring further how the silence and figures in the novel are capable of distancing from themselves to reach a new ground beside their possible predicates, Chapter Two probes into the discussion on an operative time. This mode of operative time capable of placing the now and what-has-been beside themselves renders articulation between the thing and the word in a form of non-articulation. This is the autonomy Beckett’s literary forms are generating, taking place at the site where ethical, ontological and textual readings of Beckett are not reducible to their respective context. By adopting this position of standing-beside, this thesis attempts to grasp such a void beside representation appearing in the passage between Beckett’s literary forms and contents as a space for the encounter between the speaking being and language.