論當代女性科幻小說中的身體變異與後人類論述

Abstract

中 文 摘 要 在本論文中我試著由不同理論面向來分析批判現有後人類論述的理論架構與相關的當代女性科幻小說，企圖開發更佳探討人類與非人類(包括機器與動物)既微妙又複雜的構連關係的詮釋策略。就某種程度而言，本論文所探討的三本小說都可視為是作者們對於人類與非人類界限鬆動甚至泯除的思索與回應。這些轉變不僅源於各種人機介面的衝擊，更與人機控御學主張人可化約為資訊形式的概念習習相關。有鑑於不同形式的後人類往往指涉不同形式的動作媒，本文對後人類的顛覆性持保留看法，並轉用貝克的風險社會理論詮釋當代科技文化的複雜性及流變性，進而突顯固有科技觀與風險管理模式的問題與侷限性。有趣的是，小說中所呈現的人與非人的緊密關係似乎也開啟了這些後人類們揚棄人類中心科技觀的契機，願意嘗試結合各種非人力量來面對、處理各種科技風險所帶來的衝擊甚至災難，此與長久以來人文主義歌頌個人式英雄單打獨鬥的模式大相逕庭。 本論文的第一章除了爬梳整理現有的後人類理論外，兼論及當代理論及女性科幻小說如何看待科技的議題。第二章則藉由重新詮釋凱蒂根的<<合成樂師>>一書來翻轉現有的對電腦叛客小說的批判模式，企圖將焦點轉至科技實體化及科技風險等議題。第三章則運用德勒茲與瓜達希所提出的概念如機器構連、游牧者等概念分析史考特小說<<麻煩與她的朋友們>>中的權力鬥爭及其意涵。論文的第四章則以卓斯勒的奈米科技理論所引起的辯論與爭議來脈絡化古南在<<皇后城爵士樂>>中所呈現的兩種奈米世界及其意義。總結來看，這些當代女性科幻小說中所探討的身體變異及其意涵，相當程度地豐富了當代後人類論述的深度與廣度。

Throughout this dissertation, I’ve endeavored to analyze current theoretical and fictional narratives of the posthuman from various angles with the hope of producing a more productive way to account for the intricate, complex and dynamic assemblages between humans and nonhumans, including technical devices and animals. To a large extent, these three novels covered in this dissertation can be regarded as novelists’ responses to the traversal and even possible dissolution of the boundaries between humans and nonhumans suggested not only by cutting-edge technical devices but also by the paradigm-shifting conception of cybernetics which holds the human body can be interpenetrated by and reduced to information. While part of my dissertation is inspired by Donna Haraway’s “The Promises of Monsters,” I am more reserved in the disruptive potential of these posthumans considering the fact that various forms of posthumanism imply different forms of agency “in which both subjectivity and the human/nonhuman distinction are no longer distributed in any easily recognizable way” (Johnston, Information 263). In its stead, I contextualize human-nonhuman couplings in these novels in Ulrich Beck’s theory of the risk society to underscore the complexities of contemporary technoculture and to expose the problems and limitations of the anthropocentric view of technology and traditional ways of risk management. In the process of working out diverse tactics to tackle risks, protagonists in these novels are quick to establish alliances with other humans and nonhumans, which provide a sharp contrast to the lone hero’s pilgrimage stories so common in the literary tradition of humanism. Moreover, Rose’s distributive way of controlling the development of nanotechnology in Kathleen Ann Goonan’s Queen City Jazz even suggests a new way of confronting contemporary technological risks of various kinds. Besides a critical survey of various narratives of posthumanism, I contextualize and assess various configurations of human-technology relationship in contemporary theoretical discourse and women’s science fiction in Chapter One. In Chapter Two, my rereading of Pat Cadigan’s Synners aims not only to revisit current critical paradigms of feminist cyberpunk but also to shift the attention to consider implications of technological embodiment in the context of contemporary technoculture. In Chapter Three, I incorporate Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s conceptions of machinic assemblage and nomad to interpret the power struggle between Trouble (and her queer friends) and the Mayor (along with other mainstream straight hackers) in Melissa Scott’s Trouble and Her Friends to substantiate my observation that different forms of human-nonhuman couplings trigger tremendous impacts in terms of sexuality and politics. In Chapter Four, I contextualize Kathleen Ann Goonan’s Queen City Jazz in contemporary debates and controversies on Eric Drexler’s conception of nanotechnology to interpret the emergence of new machinic assemblages when the boundary between the biological and the technological is redefined. While the order of my textual analysis does not indicate a linear line of development in women’s science fiction, all of them make manifest promises and compromises of posthumans and demonstrate the worth of women’s science fiction in providing a much needed arena to try out current and emergent posthuman configurations.