洛夫克拉夫特機器：怪異文學的精神分裂分析

Abstract

霍華德·菲利普斯·洛夫克拉夫特（1890-1937）的作品對於當代的重要性已逐漸變得不容忽視。面對戰爭、全球流行性疾病、全球暖化等日漸嚴重的問題時，人類被迫去思考自身滅亡的可能性；與此同時，我們不禁想起洛夫克拉夫特作品中的漠視宇宙（indifferent universe）：與那些在黑暗角落盤踞的巨型怪物與外神相比，人類的存在僅僅是無足輕重的一瞬。令人意外的是，在這樣極其緊迫的時代，我們反而看不到任何改變的跡象。就在洛夫克拉夫特的作品大放異彩的同時，我們似乎也發現了某個屬於當代的悖論：恐懼與消極態度的情感共構。當人們越是沉浸在滅絕的想像中，他們似乎就越容易繼續參與這個將我們推向滅絕的體制。或許洛夫克拉夫特的作品已經成為此情感迴路中重要的一環，但筆者想在此之中為其尋找不一樣的功能。透過法國哲學家德勒茲與瓜達利（Gilles Deleuze 和 Félix Guattari）的精神分裂分析理論，本文企圖重新拼裝一部「洛夫克拉夫特機器」，讓其能夠脫離既有的情感迴路，並且重新激發我們對於非人未來的想像。洛夫克拉夫特機器擁有三個部件，分別針對當代人類化（anthropomorphic）生命的三個面向進行批判：不和諧音機器之於符號政權、探頭機器之於臉性、戰爭機器之於國家機器。怪異文學的精神分裂分析為我們提供了一個重要的啟示：逃離末世的關鍵不在於保全人類既有的生命模式，而在於確保生命的多樣性與多變性。

The relevance of H.P. Lovecraft’s (1890–1937) work to the contemporary scene has become undeniable. As humanity is forced to recognize the possibility of its annihilation through threats like wars, pandemics, and global warming, we are once again reminded of the indifferent universe depicted by Lovecraft, where human existence is but a fleeting instant compared to the monstrous, alien gods that populate the darkest corners of the cosmos. Yet, in these gloomiest of times, there seem to be no significant signs of movement calling for change. The popularity of Lovecraft reveals one of the greatest paradoxes of our time: the strange mixture of fear and passivity. It seems that the more we indulge in the imagination of the end of the world, the more we are able to continue participating in the system that causes it. While Lovecraft’s weird literature might be deeply entangled in this circuit, I intend to find a different use for it. Adopting Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s schizoanalysis in my reading, I aim to reconstruct a Lovecraft machine—one that shatters the circuits of inaction and energizes us to rethink the possibilities of a non-human future. The Lovecraft machine features three components that dismantle the anthropomorphic strata that have taken hold of contemporary life, driving us to prefer death over the prospect of change: 1) the discord machine, which addresses the problem of regimes of signs; 2) the probe-head machine, which challenges the dominance of faciality; and 3) the war machine, which constructs a plane of externality to counter the ever-expanding interiority of the State apparatus. The schizoanalysis of the weird teaches us an important lesson: the key to escaping annihilation is not the preservation of humanity, but the preservation of life in all its variations.