阿特伍德《使女的故事》中的身体政治

Body Politics in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

在阿特伍德的小说《使女的故事》中,作者用文学的想象和叙事阐释了权力的无孔不入,权力政治的运作在社会的每个角落,每个主体都被它俘获。小说中身体被呈现为书写的对象,也是权力、意识形态、宗教等因素的作用对象。对身体的书写体现为对制服的符号语义学应用,通过服装将社会等级进行可视化分类与限定,使得基于视觉的对身体的驯服得到强有力执行。小说还呼应了福柯的身体权力力学机制,权力对身体的控制需要符合严格的物理学和力学原则,最终服务于政治目的和经济功用目的。小说中最为极端的权力形式方式就是对人口的控制、淘汰、管理和社会等级分层。本文结合福柯有关权力的理论探讨了阿特伍德小说的权力描写,以此阐释作者的权力观。

Margaret Atwood＇s The Handmaid＇s Tale is an imaginary futuristic world under the ubiquitous rule of power. Power politics shrouds the entire world in a sepulchral atmosphere in which the operation of power is apocalyptical and yet inevitable. The human body serves as the primary site of conflict, often taken prisoner by the unstoppable necessity of social management under the theocratic power structures. The human body is manipulated as a site of political, economic, and functional inscription. The means of writing the body are implemented even by stringent principles of Foucaultian ＂mechanics of power＂. Furthermore, the author also describes the dystopian world as one permeated by biopolitics, namely, population control, social management and stratification in the name of power. This paper analyzes the descriptions of the power structure in the novel in connection with Foucault＇s social theory and aims to elucidate Atwood＇s own stance on power politics.