出刊年月/Date of Publishing

2006.12

所屬卷期/Vol. & No.   第36卷第4期 Vol. 36, No. 4

類型/Type                 研究論文 Research Article

篇名/Title
Re-Membering the Song of My Self—African-American Self-Formation in Toni Morrison’s Jazz
重新拼湊出自我之歌——試論《爵士樂》中非裔美國人的自我建構

作者/Author
賴維菁 Wei-ching Lai

頁碼/Pagination
pp. 591-612

摘要
本論文主要探索摩里森如何應用爵士樂的敘事結構與爵士樂所蘊含的精神來處理書中人物的自我建構，並進而將本書視為摩里森藉由黑人音樂與文字的結合，作為在美國文學的範疇裡替黑人發聲的一種方式。本論文主要涵蓋三個區段：(一) 後現代時期的身分認同 (identities)——探討後現代時期的理論家如何詮釋身分認同的議題，並利用Stuart Hall的理論來詮釋《爵士樂》中兩位主角的自我追尋；(二) 流行音樂與文化屬性 (cultural identity)——探討流行音樂如何成為聽眾與演出者共同建構文化屬性的場域，並探討《爵士樂》主角紫羅蘭如何透過與爵士樂的融合而融入都會黑人社群；(三)《爵士樂》中的爵士結構與自我建構——主要討論摩里森如何運用爵士樂的敘事結構使每個主要角色得以在「即席獨奏」的部分重新反思自我的創傷經驗，進而建立全新的自我，並且探討爵士樂的反叛精神如何體現在書中最曖昧、模稜的角色——敘述者。

Abstract
This essay aims to analyze how an African-American self is constructed in Morrison’s Jazz, with a contextual argument to suggest that Morrison successfully foregrounds Africanist personas in the realm of American literature. The essay proper is divided into three sections: first, the construction of identities in the postmodern era; second, popular music and cultural identity; third, jazz structure and self formation in Toni Morrison’s Jazz. In the first section, I discuss how critics in the postmodern era deal with the issues of identities, and I appropriate Stuart Hall’s theories of identity to analyze Violet’s and Joe’s self-formation. In the second section, I argue that popular music can be viewed as a platform for the listeners and the performers to construct cultural identity, and I suggest that Violet’s assimilation into the urban black community be correlated with her adaptation to the jazz music. In the third section, I discuss how the main characters in Jazz, through their improvisatory riffs, re-member their past experiences and thereby establish a “unified” sense of self, and I also suggest that the defiant spirit of jazz is shown in the character of the ambiguous, self-deconstructing narrator.

關鍵字/Key Word
身分認同、自我建構、爵士樂
identities, self-formation, jazz

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DOI
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學門分類/Subject
文學 Literature