Time and Illness in Persuasion

Abstract

疾病敘事提供了文學與醫學對話的空間。病人的文字記錄著他們對時間的觀察，醫生的診斷分析著疾病如何影響人的身心狀態。本文嘗試以疾病論述的觀點閱讀珍•奧斯汀的晚期小說《勸服》，檢視奧氏如何探索此一次文類中的兩個重要元素：時間與身心關係(the body-mind relationship)。十九世紀初的英國社會對時間與疾病的觀點呈現有趣的雙重性(duality)。奧斯汀超越此二元對立的侷限，以更敏銳的思維詮釋時間與疾病的互動與交涉。《勸服》中的疾病起因於人在時光中的錯置(displacement/misplacement)，但時間卻也同時是唯一的解藥。奧斯汀認爲病患常常活在自己的象牙塔中，他們之所以無助乃因旁人無法了解其獨特的時間觀，也因爲生病的感受難落言銓。時間與疾病縱然帶來孤寂與傷痛，但它們亦爲蛻變成長的契機。時間與疾病的力量不只作用在人的身心，它更隱含了靈魂存在的必要性。奧氏此一觀點回應了當代科學與神學對生命起源的辯論。《勸服》是一虛構的疾病敘事卻也真實地反映其作者的疾病。病魔纏身的奧斯汀自知來日無多。因此她藉由書寫來砥礪自己，來重新審視健康的定義。

Illness narrative enriches and informs both literary studies and medical researches. This essay attempts to interpret Jane Austen`s last completed novel Persuasion as an illness narrative, involving both her creative efforts and real-life struggle. Early nineteenth- century England witnessed an engaging dichotomy in the conception of both time and diseases. In Persuasion, Austen interconnects time and illness, not least by exploring their causal and mutual-reinforcing relationship. This relationship leads Austen to ponder on humans` predicament given their susceptibility to the (joint) power of time and illness and to postulate possible solutions. If humans` bodies and minds are vulnerable, Austen implies, their souls are not. Austen`s hypothesis of the existence of the soul represents her participation in the contemporary scientific and theological debate concerning the origin of life. A fictional illness narrative in essence, Persuasion nevertheless reflects its author`s declining health. Through writing on illness, Austen seeks to mentally fortify herself when all medication proves ineffectual and to redefine health.