《千穗谷》中的身体意象与主体性重构

Body Image and the Reconstruction of Subjectivity in Love-Lies-Bleeding

美国作家唐·德里罗的剧本《千穗谷》以安乐死为话题,叩问了现代医学背景下的生命权问题。表面上看,植物人艾利克斯的身体不过是情节展开的背景。实际上,从身体意象出发可以析出该剧的后人文式解读。德里罗将不同时空下艾利克斯的身体置于同一舞台空间中,强化了身体的在场性,进而消解了身体与意识、自我与世界的二元对立。曾在现代社会中身心失衡的艾利克斯不顾他人的质疑与否定,主动选择回归、触摸、感知自然。基于具身体验,他在与其他非人类物种建立的地球生命共同体中获得了归属感并重构了主体性。

DeLillo’s play, Love-Lies-Bleeding, dwells on the topic of euthanasia and probes into the issue of biopower in the context of modern medicine. Ostensibly, the body of Alex,the man in a persistent vegetative state, is merely the backdrop against which the plot unfolds.Actually, an analysis of the body image may offer a posthuman interpretation of the play. By situating Alex’s body from different space and time in the same space on stage, DeLillo reinforces the presence of his body, thereby deconstructing the body-mind and self-world dichotomies. Despite other characters’ doubt or repudiation, Alex, who has lost mind-body balance in modern society, chooses to return to nature, so he could touch and feel it once again. Through his embodied experience, he acquires a sense of belonging and reconstructs his subjectivity in the Earth community for human and non-human species.