樂觀的相互依存：《柳林》、《滅絕》與生態哥德式.

Abstract

本論文透過生態哥德式（ecogothic）的理論框架，探討傑夫・范德米爾（Jeff VanderMeer）的 《Annihilation》 與艾傑農・布萊克伍德（Algernon Blackwood）的〈柳林〉（The Willows）。生態哥德式揭示了布萊克伍德與范德米爾作品中的生態潛文本，並使他們筆下大自然的陰暗描寫更加明顯。儘管 《Annihilation》 與〈柳林〉汲取了哥德式意象與黑暗情感（如恐懼、瘋狂與絕望），這些作品的前提卻顯現出一種樂觀的可能性。〈柳林〉與 《Annihilation》 中哥德與恐怖的元素對晚期資 本主義中自主且健全主義（ableist）的主體提出挑戰。殖民、瘋狂與死亡的威脅打開了人類與非人存在之間溝通的可能性。 本論文指出，《Annihilation》 與〈柳林〉為未來一種新型環境倫理的興起奠定了基礎。本研究的潛線之一，是環境災難在范德米爾與布萊克伍德的哥德想像中所扮演的中介與滋養角色。這種新倫理不應是對自然失落「完整性」的懷舊呼喚，而是一種對我們彼此關聯與相互依存的遲來認知。

This thesis examines Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer, and “The Willows,” by Algernon Blackwood, through an ecogothic framework. The ecogothic brings forth ecological subtexts in Blackwood and VanderMeer, and makes the more evident the dark representations of nature in their oeuvre. Although Annihilation and “The Willows” draw from Gothicized imagery and dark affects (fear, madness, despair), the premise of these texts appears optimistic. The Gothic and fearsome elements of “The Willows” and Annihilation challenge the autonomous and ableist subject of late capitalism. The threat of colonization, madness, and death opens up the possibility of communication between humans and nonhumans. This thesis shows that Annihilation and “The Willows” set the foundation for a new environmental ethics to emerge in the future. The idea that environmental catastrophe mediates and feeds into VanderMeer and Blackwood’s Gothic imagination is an undercurrent in this thesis. The new ethics cannot be a nostalgic call for a lost ‘wholeness’ in nature, but it is instead the belated recognition of our interconnectedness and interdependency.