「人形鹽柱」：男同志小說中青春崇拜與大齡歧視的再現與政治

Abstract

本論文在男同志年齡差別待遇的次文化脈絡中討論《魂斷威尼斯》、《單身男子》、《已婚男人》三本小說。它們雖然再現了青春崇拜與大齡歧視的刻版印象與迷思，卻也蘊含了偏離甚或顛覆此種意識形態的可能性與反例。理想年輕男子的形構實則受歷史事件和流行論述的影響而改變；隨著近年來老人議題愈受到文學界重視，曾經被妖魔化的中老年男同志角色獲得平反的契機。本論文取徑女性主義方法處理老化過程的再現，從檢視肉體老化徵狀到詳察引發負面情緒的原因，指出男同志角色內化大齡歧視的社會涵義，即是被注定的孤獨。《已婚男人》之特別處正在於它開展了過去常被侷限的中老年男同志各種生活面向，也暗示跨代溝通有助緩和過度重視年齡的社會氛圍。 首章藉由考察中老年男同志角色眼中理想年輕男子形象和角色本身的回春行動以再現青春崇拜，並指出影響理想年輕男子形構的歷史因素。次章探查主觀老化經驗和受大齡歧視影響的各種徵狀，歸結於多數負面傾向的再現手法實可被視為異性戀常規性的制約機制。末章從相反形象的部署、詩學正義的安排、跨代互助的示現等三大面向辨認艾德蒙•懷特顛覆年齡差別待遇的文學手段。

This thesis reads Death in Venice, A Single Man, and The Married Man in the context of age-discriminatory atmosphere of gay subculture. I argue that gay fiction not only represents the youthist and ageist stereotypes and myths in gay subculture but also contains possibilities and counterexamples to deviate or even subvert such ideology. As the change of configuration of idolized youth is influenced by historical events and popular discourses, the ever demonized characterization of ageing male homosexuals obtains the opportunity of purification, when gerontological issues receive more critical concerns of writers and literary scholars in recent decades. Mainly indebted to various feminist approaches, this thesis deals with the representation of ageing process from examining the signs of decrepit flesh to scrutinizing the causes for negative emotions, so as to connect the figures’ internalized ageism to its specific social meanings of gay subculture, i.e., doomed loneliness led by undesirability. Particularly, The Married Man really displays unfiltered futures of gay men; it suggests that the extreme age-discriminatory atmosphere can be ameliorated through more cross-generational communications. The first chapter examines both the adorable images of youth from the older gay protagonists’ perspective and the protagonists’ acts of rejuvenation in pursuit of youthful beauty, and gives a historical explanation for the alteration of the idolized object of homosexual desire in different eras. The second chapter explores gay characters’ subjective ageing experiences and investigates their symptoms of ageism; taking the readership’s reaction into account, these representations can be viewed as mechanisms of heteronormativity from the viewpoint of ideological criticism. The third chapter revisits the age-related stereotypes and myths through scrutinizing Edmund White’s destigmatizing strategies, including deploying counteractive images, arranging poetic justice, and implying reciprocity of generativity.