臺灣自然導向文學的非人轉向

Abstract

本文考察1980年以來臺灣自然導向文學的「非人轉向」，透過近四十年間的作家與文本分析，論證一個從人文主義到非人主義的轉變過程。以上過程，大致可以由下三個文學史問題開始探查：一，臺灣初期的自然導向文學，如何處理人和自然的位置？二，臺灣文學在什麼契機下，促使人類位置衰弱、非人意識浮現？三，臺灣的自然導向文學，如何展現強烈的非人主義以及多元的非人主體？

為了回答前述三個問題，本文提出以下的分析框架：一，對於自然史觀的分析：借助拉圖（B. Latour）關於「宇宙觀」（cosmograms）的討論，進行早期自然導向文學家的自然史觀；二，對於非人行動者的分析：借助新物質主義的論點，掌握到人類撰寫的文學作品中的非人能動力；三，對於人類世（Anthropocene）批判的分析：借助關注人類世的意義，指出臺灣置身全球文類思潮中的獨特發展。

本文循此框架，運用十餘位不同時期作家的登錄、比對及分析臺灣，認為自然導向文學在過去四十年產生如下轉折：一、1980年代乍現的灣自然導向文學背後，存在著一股強烈的人文主義，具體的文學特徵是，遁隱到文明以外的原始鄉野、對地方有高度憧憬、保護自然的生命姿態；二、1999年以後，質樸的「自然」概念受到挑戰、人類作為保護者的高度位置也受到質疑，文學家開始探索不同非人（如動物、山林、海洋）的生命智慧與存在模式；三、2011年以後，臺灣自然導向的寫作者，已勇於面對人類世導致的全球與人文危機，並發揮文學想像力建構出強烈的非人意識、大量探索非人主體性的可能性。

This thesis investigates the gradual emergence of nonhumanism in Taiwan’s nature-oriented literature over the course of the last forty years. While previous research in this field focused either on individual writers or on certain thematic aspects, this thesis attempts instead to foreground the transformation of the underlying assumptions regarding nature and nonhumans across different authors and times, in order to eventually present a concise literary history of this literary genre in its Taiwanese and global context. The theoretical underpinning of this discussion is, firstly, Bruno Latour’s insights with regards to the principle of organization that distributes agency, i.e. the cosmograms or views of nature, allowing us to assess the first two decades of nature-oriented writing. Secondly, much of Latour’s earlier work proposed the critical notion of the nonhuman in order to come to terms with the Modern condition. With it, concepts like agency and actants—usually limited to the human realm—are extended to nonhuman entities. The reconceptualization of these concepts facilitates an examination of the first ten years of nature-oriented literature in the new millennium. Finally, the discourse on the Anthropocene gives rise to deliberation with regards to the most recent works of this genre. The argument presented here shows that the initial stage of Taiwan’s nature-oriented literature in the 1980s and 1990s was dominated by a latent humanistic approach to nature, which found its expression in overt protection gestures towards nature and the longing for a nature as a recluse in contrast to the separated human civilization. Entering the new millennium, authors dropped rigid views of nature and instead explored agential capacities of nonhuman others, while simultaneously calling into questions the Anthropocentrism of the earlier decades, mainly through the lenses of animal, mountain and water writings. The last ten years from 2011–2021 are characterized by the transformation of nonhuman others to nonhuman subjects. Taiwanese nature-oriented writers explored ways to face the challenges posed by the Anthropocene discourse and developed literary formats as well as unique story telling styles that showcased how nonhuman actants actively take part in the formulation of our common geostory.