受骗还是操控?—黄哲伦《蝴蝶君》中的双重叙事动力

Deceived or Manipulating?——Dual Narrative Dynamics in David Henry Hwang’s M.Butterfly

华裔美国作家黄哲伦的戏剧《蝴蝶君》对于东方主义的改写与对刻板形象的颠覆一直备受争议。伽利玛和宋丽玲剧终的角色置换奠定了该剧对东方主义与性别主义戏仿和挑战的情节主线。从显性情节上看,《蝴蝶君》对东方主义刻板形象的颠覆使华人形象因宋男性身份的曝光而再度污名化,也使该剧解构东方主义话语的意义遭到质疑。然而,在显性情节背后隐藏着一股与之并行的叙事暗流,它聚焦强制异性恋矩阵下宋丽玲与伽利玛在同性恋情中的权力博弈,使显性情节中的受骗者成为隐性进程中的操控者。显性情节通过对歌剧《蝴蝶夫人》的戏仿,挑战二元对立的东方主义刻板形象;而隐性进程则深层揭示西方话语体系下华人身份自我言说的困境。双重叙事动力相辅相成,影射了冷战时期西方中心主义话语体系构建的策略。

There have been controversies over the parodic rewriting of the orientalist narrative in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and the subversion(or reinforcement)of orientalist stereotypes in David Henry Hwang’s drama M.Butterfly(1988).The play’s final inversion of Gallimard and Song Liling’s identities both parodies and challenges orientalism and sexism.But the main plotline seems to repeat stereotypical Chinese images when Song’s male identity is exposed,bringing about suspicions as to its actual subversive effect.However,there also exists a parallel undercurrent in a subplot that centers on the power game between Song and Gallimard.Their homosexual relationship within the hegemonic heterosexual matrix results in paradoxical images and thematic imports.While the overt plot challenges the binary inherent within the construction of orientalist stereotypes through a repurposing of Madame Butterfly,the covert narrative progression reveals the dilemma of expressing Chinese identity within systems of Eurocentric discourse.The dual narrative dynamics supplement each other to reflect on the discursive construction of Western hegemony during the Cold War era.