保羅·德曼
保羅·德曼(Paul de Man,1919年12月6日—1983年12月21日)是比利時解構主義文學批評家及文學理論家。
生平
他於1950年代後期獲得博士學位,然後曾於康乃爾大學、哈佛大學、約翰·霍普金斯大學及蘇黎世大學任教,亦曾於耶魯大學法語及比較文學系任教,部分解構主義耶魯學派的思想正是在該處建立的。德曼於患癌症病逝後獲頒耶魯大學人文學科的斯特林教席。然而,人們發現了二百多篇他在第二次世界大戰時為敵方報章所寫的文章,其中一份報章更帶有鮮明的反猶太人主義色彩,此發現令人重新審視他的生平及作品。
德曼亦是佳亞特里·斯皮瓦克及芭芭拉·約翰遜(Barbara Johnson)的論文導師。
戰時文章與反猶太著作
德曼死後,他在第二次世界大戰期間為一份比利時通敵報紙所寫的二百份文章被人們發現。曾有人就此諮詢過德里達。
在一篇題為「Jews in Contemporary Literature」的文章中,德曼考察了「[v]ulgar anti-semitism willingly takes pleasure in considering post-war cultural phenomenon (after the war of 14-18) as degenerate and decadent because they are [enjewished].」 他注意到:「Literature does not escape this lapidary judgement: it is sufficient to discover a few Jewish writers under Latinized pseudonyms for all contemporary production to be considered polluted and evil. This conception entails rather dangerous consequences... it would be a rather unflattering appreciation of western writers to reduce them to being mere imitators of a Jewish culture which is foreign to them」。這份文章宣稱,現代文學並沒有因為第一次世界大戰而從傳統中斷裂,而且「the Jews cannot claim to have been its creators, nor even to have exercised a preponderant influence over its development. On any closer examination, this influence appears to have extraordinarily little importance since one might have expected that, given the specific characteristics of the Jewish Spirit, the later would have played a more brilliant role in this artistic production」。文章總結道:「our civilization... [b]y keeping, in spite of semitic interference in all aspects of European life, an intact originality and character... has shown that its basic character is healthy」。文章的結論是作為「a solution to the Jewish problem」(這可能指的是馬達加斯加計劃(英文:Madagascar Plan),而非在這個時期還未被廣泛了解的希特勒最終解決方案(英文:Final_solution))的「the creation of a Jewish colony isolated from Europe」並不會給「the literary life of the west」帶來任何「deplorable consequences」。
雖然還有兩三篇文章對放逐猶太人以及剝奪猶太人選舉權持有毫無異議的接受態度,但這是德曼如此明確宣稱這種觀點的唯一一篇文章。在德曼發表這篇文章時,1941年3月,比利時通過了反猶法案,將猶太人排除在法律、教育、政府服務、新聞職業之外。1942年8月4日,第一列載有比利時猶太人的火車離開梅赫倫駛向奧斯維辛。戰時,德曼繼續為納粹控制的報紙Le Soir寫作,直到1942年11月。當時他並不太可能知道猶太人在奧斯維辛的情況。隨後,一些事實被曝光,使得反猶太斷言可疑:「...in 1942 or 1943, about a year after the journalistic publication of his compromising statement, he and his wife sheltered for several days in their apartment the Jewish pianist Esther Sluszny and her husband, who were then illegal citizens in hiding from the Nazis. During this same period, de Man was meeting regularly with Georges Goriely, a member of the Belgian Resistance. According to Goriely's own testimony, he never for one minute feared denunciation of his underground activities by Paul de Man.」(譯:1942或1943年間,在德曼發表他的妥協聲明後的大約一年後,他和妻子讓猶太鋼琴家Esther Sluszny及其丈夫在他們的公寓中隱藏多日。Esther Sluszny及其丈夫當時是非法居民,正在逃避納粹追捕。與此同時,德曼還經常與比利時抵抗組織成員Georges Goriely會面。根據Goriely的證詞,他從沒有任何一刻會擔心德曼告發他的地下活動)。許多評論者注意到,德曼讚揚猶太作家卡夫卡展示出現代歐洲文學的健康本質,然而德曼並沒有提及他是一位猶太人。
參見
外部連結
- Guide to the Paul de Man Papers. (頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
|