《心中之地》想像的共同體與空間化的身分

Abstract

本論文探討新加坡英語作者蕭維瓏的小說《心中之地》中瀰漫的漂泊感以及零散卻深沉的紮根感，並專注於新加坡所謂「心中之地」以及其居民的身份認同。 《心中之地》的故事情節圍繞著新加坡少年傅榮星展開，他住在新加坡的社會住宅，當地稱為組屋公寓。而小說名稱「心中之地」指的就是由組屋延伸向外所包含的生活範圍，包含小吃商圈、公園、郵局、停車場等。雖然男主角喜愛他所居住的社會住宅，但他同時也對自我的身分認同背負著強烈的焦慮和懷疑。我認為小說中所表現出的矛盾態度和揮之不去的焦慮反映了新加坡組屋居住者的複雜性。本論文共分四章，透過分析男主角的不安與依戀，探討主人翁和其居住空間之間的關係，並分析《心中之地》小說中所表現的情感的二元性。其一為探討男主角的不安情緒，我借用安德森的《想像的共同體》，試圖爬梳組屋以及其周遭環境在新加坡人心中是否構成某種引起共鳴的圖像，以進一步釐清男主角在自我認同層面所感受的矛盾。其二我用列斐伏爾《空間的生產》中所論述的三種空間概念為基礎，分析傅榮星雖然對自己的新加坡國家身分表現感到焦慮，卻在組屋的生活中，對其居住的社會住宅產生依賴，甚至認同自己身為「心地人」(the heartlander)的身分。This thesis explores the sense of rootlessness and rootedness in Daren Shiau’s Heartland, and investigates the identity of a “heartland/heartlander” in Singapore. The storyline of Heartland revolves around Foo Wing Seng—a Singaporean teenage boy who lives in the Singapore public apartment unit, also known as the Housing Development Board (HDB) apartment. While Wing identifies with the place in which he resides, he is simultaneously burdened with a strong sense of anxiety and self-doubt. I argue that the ambivalent attitude and the lingering anxiety displayed in the novel reflect the multitudinous facets of the heartland/heartlander identity, which is established by Singapore’s ruling party, People Action Party (PAP). Drawing on the work of Benedict Anderson, I argue that nations are “imagined communities” (1983, 2006) and that one’s national identity, along with the emotional ties to a nation, is the result of intentional construction. On the other hand, I turn to Henri Lefebvre’s Production of Space (1974) to explore how Wing identifies with the public housing estate—the heartland complex—and gain insight into the interrelation between the place and its residents. I aim to show how Wing accepts and embraces the HDB housing complex in which he lives despite the strong sense of anxiety he reveals toward the city-state of Singapore. Divided into four chapters, this thesis delves into the duality of emotions shown in Heartland by analyzing simultaneously the rootlessness and rootedness of the protagonist.