【英史】feedbacks on Stan's course on Utopia (deadline: 4/9, 12 p.m.)

After Stan's 3-week course on modernist utopia, I think you have learned a lot about the British utopian tradition, the significance of the two World Wars, and the changing attitudes towards culture and literature in the 20th century. If there is a "lesson" to be learned from Stan's course, what do you think it is? Are there discussions or readings in or out of the classroom that shed new light upon things you used to think or opinions you used to hold?

【文讀】認識憂鬱：閱讀普拉絲與《瓶中美人》 by 紀大偉

我在大四的時候，首次聽聞希薇亞．普拉絲（Sylvia Plath）這個名字。那時候，「美國文學史」是大學英文系畢業前最後的必修課，時數苦短。教授拚命趕課，幾乎無暇顧及較近文本──但我們竟然還是讀了二次世界大戰之後的一位古怪女詩人，作為大學四年的句點。她是文學課程不容疏漏的人物，自然具有經典地位，她就是普拉絲。

　　普拉絲的詩作充溢女兒對父親的愛恨情結；如〈爹地〉（Daddy）中居然寫「爹地，我早就該殺死你的。你在我來得及殺死你之前就死去──」，追思與詛咒合而為一。不過，我們為了更有效率地消化文學作品，只好為她匆匆貼上一張方便歸檔的標籤，將她視為反抗父權的叛逆女詩人。

　　大四那一年，同時也是人心惶惶的時刻。女生們忙著申請學校或打聽工作市場，男生們只能坐以待斃等著畢業入伍，要不然就拚命考各種研究所藉此延長學生時光。在集體焦慮的精神狀態下，我也將報考英文研究所當作唯一的救贖，又不經意看了幾回普拉絲。在準備考試前後，我聽了一些耳語。聽說某朋友勤於尋求心理輔導，有人甚至出入醫院的精神科。也在那時首次聽聞憂鬱症藥物百憂解（Prozac），據傳是一種可以改善心情、調整性格的心理藥物。此外，也有幾位朋友像無蒼蠅亂竄，老是嚷著要自殺。對於這些傳言，我大抵一笑置之，以為大家只要寬心就可以熬過畢業情結。但我們終究不是自己的主宰──我的一位摯友在自殺未遂數次之後，終於成功跳樓身，化為晚報一角的鉛字。初聞她的死訊，我只覺得荒唐好笑；但是在的告別式現場，看見她埋在花朵裡的粉白臉孔時，我幾乎崩潰，根本不像想像中的那般強韌。

　　她為什麼非走不可？我不確知，只能攀附一些流言敘述。其他遭受折磨的諸多朋友們遇上何等困境，我也不甚了然。後來才逐漸了悟，原來我們一直欠缺合宜的語言文字來呈現這些苦難者，所以才無法認識苦難。當苦難者在自我陳述的時候，可能會運用「心情不好，沒有鬥志，不想社交，想要自殺」之類的詞語，但是這些詞語未能換取體諒和協，卻可能引起誤會和嘲笑。一般人誤以為，只要樂觀、進取、自立自強、立下生活目標，就可以充分解除上述魔咒。如果無法自救，一定是因為軟弱。苦難者的心理困境也會浮現在身上，例如化為反覆出現的感冒、失眠和頭痛，但這些症狀大抵被人簡化為現代人的流行病，也不會得到正視。有些苦難者具備不錯的學歷甚或中上的社經地位，因而被人指責為溫室之花，他們的呼喊被解讀為無病呻吟。他們被視為撒嬌的林黛玉。

　　後來「憂鬱症」這個詞語開始在我們身邊出現。

　　憂鬱症並不只是心理困擾，更是生理苦痛。終於可以用這個詞語來描述一些朋友，這個詞彙仍舊帶來誤解。就字面上來說，這詞語不像「癌症」「肝炎」「骨折」之類一樣駭人，也因此得不到尊重，反而遭人訕笑。在英文中，depression則讓人想起「經濟蕭條」，旁人未必理解憂鬱人士的苦難。大多數人對憂鬱症所知其少，卻又經常自以為是，以（有偏見的）常識來訓斥憂鬱症受難者（例如，勸阻他們看心理醫生，不准他們吃安眠藥，強迫他們參加社交生活），反而惡化憂鬱的處境。現今仍然很難透過語言文字充分認識「憂鬱症」所指稱的人口，雖然我們經常從新聞媒體看見、聽見，又有憂鬱症人士自殺身亡的消息──那些外島軍人、家庭主婦、獨居老人、年輕作家、高薪工程師，甚至醫師本身，爭先凋零，彷彿趕赴另一個世界的盛宴。也因為語言文字未能妥當地呈現憂鬱，人們在漠視憂鬱症人士之餘，極多數的憂鬱症人士也不知道自己身受憂鬱症之苦，因而未曾尋求協助，或者救助之後遭人嘲笑軟弱，只得繼續躲在家裡吃偷偷蒐集的安眠藥。

　　語言文字究竟是必要之惡──唯有練習述說憂鬱症，我們才有機會認識憂鬱。《神奇百憂解》（Listening to Prozac; by Peter D. Kramer）、《躁鬱之心》（An Unquiet Mind; by Kay R. Jamison；但此書談論「躁鬱症」，和「憂鬱症」略有不同）、《超越百憂解》（Beyond Prozac; by Michael J. Norden）等書展示了鬱的詞典，李安的電影《冰風暴》顯現出憂鬱的身影，但我們還需要更綿長的文字生命史。於此，憂鬱症守護女神普拉絲的作品絕對不能絕席。普拉絲是美國當代詩壇的代表人物，不過她唯一的長篇小說《瓶中美人》(The Bell Jar)對憂鬱症著墨甚，比她繁多的詩篇更具影響力。書名「鐘形瓶」形象，已經成為憂鬱症的代名詞：《瓶中美人》第十五章寫過，「我坐在同一個玻璃鐘形瓶下面，在我自己的酸苦之氣中慢燉慢熬，自作自受。」

　　重新識普拉絲，是在大四生涯多年之後。《瓶中美人》是以大學生活為題材，而我在閱讀過程中也另眼重見大四當年。普拉絲的大學生活曾如此憂鬱？當然，小說文本和作者生平之間的關係必定迷離，不宜對號入座，但一般認為普拉絲的小說（甚到她所有的文字創作）充盈著自傳色彩。閱讀普拉絲，或許也可以同時辨識出你我擦肩而過的幢幢人影。

　　普拉絲於一九三二年生於美國麻省，父親是波士頓大學著名的蜜蜂專家；她八歲就會寫詩；獲獎學金進入麻省史密斯學院，這是當時最大的女校；她在暑假前往紐約「Mademoiselle」雜誌擔任實習編輯，只有才女才能享有這份榮譽；她得富爾萊特伯獎金赴英國劍橋大學進修，在英國結識後來的丈夫泰德．修斯（Ted Hughes）──修斯就是後來享譽甚隆的英國桂冠詩人；婚後她並參加著名詩人勞勃．羅威爾（Robert Lowell）的寫作課，另一位詩人謝歌絲登（Anne Sexton）是她的同學。

　　普拉絲美麗聰明又幸運，是惹人嫉羡的模範生，而她拚命讓自己符合主流價值。但事實恐怕不盡如此。父親在她年幼時過世，成為她終其一生的傷痛。她在大學期間飽受失眠之苦，在紐約擔任見習生的經驗又讓她心力交瘁。之後，她陷入嚴重憂鬱，曾經割腕、服食過量安眠藥，後來輾轉於幾家精神療院之間，並接受多次電擊治療。好強的她卻又回校完成學業，並以卓越成績爭取到赴英獎學金。旅英期間她倍感苦悶，但寄給母親的家書卻佯裝樂觀進取；後來隨丈夫遷居鄉村，心靈煎熬更甚，可是她依舊在家書上說謊，自稱無憂。

　　普拉絲的瘋狂太過彰顯，她一開口便無法住嘴，一有錢便浮誇消費，旁人再也不相信她沒病；她的丈夫開始外遇，母親雇人照顧普拉絲的小孩。這正切合普拉絲心意，她有餘暇研究魔法，向不忠的丈夫下咒。在生命最後一年，她獨自帶了兩個小孩蝸居倫敦，身無分文，感冒纏身。生活困頓，她只好熬夜寫詩賺錢，並且將十年前的大學記憶寫成《瓶中美人》書內人物都採化名，作者也以筆名示人，不過還是詳述了普拉絲從客居紐約到接受電擊治療的過程──那是從天堂重重跌落的一條路。普拉絲在一九六三年二月十一日以瓦斯自盡，時年三十歲。她的老同學謝歌絲登也在十年後自盡。

　　書外的普拉絲為何毀滅──以及，書裡的女大學生為何崩潰──至少可以引出三種解釋空間。一，文本內外的女詩人身為女性：她們（我不想輕易地將普拉絲和女大學生視為同一人）的作者可解讀為針對性別歧視社會的抗議，而她們則被視為女性主義英雄；二，她們身為詩人，符合瘋狂詩人的既有形象，任憑文學創作的死慾驅策；三，她們身為憂鬱症受難者，言行光怪陸離，只不過是想要摸索出一條得以倖存的曲折路。誠然，三種身分都是她們身上的元素，化約任何一種身份都無法全然解釋。不過，在此時空，我卻寧願強調她們的第三種身分：憂鬱症受難者。現實情境中，早已有太多人的生命被政治的口號召喚（如被拱為女性主義先驅），或為了藝術的理由犧牲（如被尊為藝術鬥士）──憂鬱症受難者躲在家裡圖個清靜，難道我們還要以外在世界的喧囂來捉弄人？如何正視憂鬱症受難者的苦楚，比送上光環更有誠意。

　　憂鬱症人士往往極其寂寞。普拉絲在《瓶中美人》裡準確說道：「一起嘔吐過的人最容易結為知交。」陪自己的朋友受難，才會知道她吐得多辛苦。《瓶中美人》的中譯本雖然姍姍遲來，但我們終究得以陪憂鬱症人士嘔吐一回，一種由內往外翻的呼喊。夜半時分，整應城市響遍嘔吐的聲音，不知你是否願意傾聽。

【文讀】Sylvia Plath's inverview (deadline: 4/6, 12 p.m.)

In today's class, we talked about how "good literature" can have this wonderful ability to defy the erosion of time and to stay forever young and awe-inspiring years after it's production. Reading Sylvia Plath's poem such as Daddy gives us such kind of feeling. Her poetry, with its emotional intensity and macaber savageness, can still give us the shudders today. Below is an audio clip of Plath's interview. Listen carefully. In this interview, she mentioned Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton, whose "confessional poetry" inspired and excited her. Why? What kind of subject she felt drawn to? What does she mean when she talked about the "dangerousness of gentility" in England? What's the difference between being an American poet and an English poet? Write down anything that you feel interesting or inspiring after listening to this sound clip. Pay attention to Plath's commanding and yet beautiful voice.

【文讀】tensions in John Keats's poetry (deadline: 3/23, 12 p.m.)

As we talked in class, tensions fascinate artists and writers because a tension presents an ever-fluid situation in which two forces are flirting, combating, wrestling,intercoursing with one another. Tensions defy status quo, bringing forth oppositions that stir imagination and trigger narration. In other words, a tension or an opposition is forever intriguing, forever evocative, and forever provocative for artists.

In fact, you can find out this "tension" or "opposition" operating throughout John Keats's poetry. His poems such as "Old to a Nightingale" or "Ode on a Grecian Urn" are built upon oppositions. Although he likes to set up a tension, he does not want it fully resolved. However, much of the pleasure we derive from his poetry stems from this opposition between dreams of something better and the pains of reality.

Here comes your assignment: Pick up any sections of his poem, looking at the details of the poem. Identify a central opposition in the poem and analyze this "opposition."

東華文學翻譯獎

The Dong Hwa Translation Prize invites submissions of translations from Chinese into English and vice versa. Please see below for details:

東華文學翻譯獎設立緣起：
本系曾珍珍教授為了紀念從小喜愛翻譯的長子張式均，特別邀請花東文教基金會共同贊助，從2010年起每年在東華校園定期舉辦文學翻譯競賽活動。

宗旨：
鼓勵東華大學大學部學生發展文學翻譯技能。初期以英翻中、中翻英為主。

參賽資格：
東華大學大學部學生。

比賽項目：
分英翻中、中翻英兩項。每項包括指定作品和自選作品。指定作品請至英美系網頁連結下載，自選作品文類不拘，但以不超過五千字為原則。參賽者可同時參加英翻中、中翻英兩項。

徵稿截止日期：
2010年4月30日前將指定作品與附上原文的自選作品譯稿繳交或寄達東華大學英美系辦公室「東華文學翻譯獎委員會」收（以郵戳為憑）。隨函務必附上東華大學學生證影本。(辦公室地址：974花蓮縣壽豐鄉志學村大學路二段1-17號，英美語文學系)

譯稿格式：
以Microsoft Word格式繕打，列印於A4紙上，一式三份。

得獎公告及獎金金額：
得獎名單將於六月一日公佈於東華大學英文系網頁。得獎人獲頒獎狀及獎金，每項獎金第一名七千元、第二名五千元、第三名四千元、佳作三名，每名三千元。

得獎作品將發表於英文系網頁學生園地。

關於【英史】加簽

Hi folks!【英史】課要加簽的同學請舉手，讓我知道要印幾張加簽單。人數統計完後，我會把簽好名的加簽單放在英美系辦 Diane 那裏，請需要的同學跟 Diane 拿。

【文讀】"Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (deadline: 3/15, 12 p.m.)

How many ways of expressing mixed color can you find in this poem? How does Hopkins expand the meaning of "pied beauty"?

【英史】Questions for James Joyce's "The Dead" (deadline: 3/12, 12p.m.)

In our first week of class, we talked about the meaning of being "modern." To be modern is to find ourselves thrown into a turmoil that is simultaneously exciting and threatening. It is exciting because the dizziness comes from the drama, joy, adventure, and power promised by the arrival of modernity; however, it is at the same time threatening because our old "solid" systems of belief (regarding everything we know about ourselves and about the world) are shattered so mercilessly, as Marx described in the Communist Manifesto:"All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned." This "melting" vision is later to be found in Yeats's famous poem "The Second Coming": "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold."

In other words, modernity is the age of doubt. Old confidence in History and Truth evaporates. If the Truth (with a capital "T") of God, selfhood, empire is no longer valid, the exploration of "truths" (in a plural form) becomes a modernist task for writers and artists to pursue. Since the objective,rational, or transcendental "Truth" has been rejected, writers begin to focus on subjective, everyday, personal "truths." And usually these "truths" imply a critique of the traditional, the masculine, the Victorian values.

With this in mind, if James Joyce's name is synonymous with modernist literature, how does his work participate in this "de-centering" project? How does his fiction disrupt conventional expectations about self, narrative certainty, and religious faith? If all that has once been holy is now profaned, how can a modernist writer like Joyce manage to do? Can a semi-holy glimpse of redemption be possible for Joyce in this disenchanted modern world which is irreversibly secular?

You can link the aforementioned questions to a detailed consideration of Gabriel in "The Dead." For example, how does Garbriel's "certainty" crumble after several incidents happened in the story? Examine those incidents and anaylze Gabriel's confrontations with different female characters. In what way do these confrontations bring about Gabriel's awareness of his limitations as a lover and a human being?

Make your answer into a 350-400-word essay.

【文讀】the power of creative imagination in "Kubla Khan" (deadline: 3/9, 12 p.m.)

In today's class, we talked about the hallucinatory genesis of Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" and the uncanny visions that are invoked by the poet as a seer. The poem itself is also a demonstration of Romantic art-making. Kubla Khan represents the artist; fantastic Xanadu is the world of art; and the "stately pleasure-dome"--a "miracle of rare device"--is the intricate artwork.

The poem, written in 1797 and published in 1816, is considered a Romantic poem. The Romantic Period is generally considered to be a period revolting against the 18th-century rage for order and reason. Traits or style of the period can be characterized in the following list of Romantic elements:
1) Orientalism: Romantics were interested in the Orient for its exotic and rich colors.
2) Primitivism: Romantics believed that a less advanced stage of culture, even a savage condition, gives people more happiness than complex modern society.
3) The Supernatural and Psychological Extremes: Romantics were fascinated with stories of bewitchings, hauntings, and possession. The 18th-century concepts such as "reason," "order," and "discipline" were disdained by them; instead, they favored supernatural happenings, strange adventures, and violent fits of passion.
4) Celebrations of Creativity and Individualism: The Romantic period, simultaneously the period of imperial expansion and boundless revolutonary hope, was also an epoch of individualism in which poets had high expectations for human potentialities and powers.

In "Kubla Khan," can you detect any Romantic elements listed above? What are they? Use concrete examples from the poem to prove your points.