| 摘要: | 本計畫旨在研究十九世紀的死亡展示及其在當代文學作品中的呈現，以釐清維多利亞時代對於死亡以及「怪誕」(The Grotesque) 這個名詞的著迷。此名詞在十九世紀時包含了曖昧不明、跨界、混種等等意涵。諸如將患病或是死亡的人體以蠟像方式呈現出來的解剖學蠟像展，或是以動物屍體剝製而成、演繹出人類社會各種畫面的擬人化標本展，都是挑戰生與死、人與物界限的展示。另外十九世紀末盛行為死去親人拍攝遺體紀念照，在此類照片中，有時遺體被擺設在日常生活場景中，或是與活著的親人一同照相。與Roland Barthes所述、照片無可避免地沾染了死亡的理論相互對照，更彰顯了照片中死者遺體的複雜性。同樣是拍攝死者，另一類在十九世紀流行的「靈體攝影」則是聲稱能夠捕捉死去親人靈魂的影像。事實上，這類攝影是使用雙重曝光的技術製作而成，因此照片中所謂的靈體事實上是死者還在世時所照的照片。擬人化標本以動物屍體扮演活人、遺體攝影以人類屍體扮演活人、而靈體攝影則以活人的照片扮演亡者。於是死亡成為戲劇效果，身體成為物品。除此之外，經防腐處理的屍體、墓園中以死者形象製成的雕像、拍攝謀殺案被害者的瞳孔以求破案的照片等，都將一併探討。
This research project aims to investigate the nineteenth-century exhibitions, photographs, and other displays of the dead body and their symbolic or literal representations in contemporary English novels, in order to explicate the Victorian obsession with both death and the grotesque--a term, in the nineteenth century, charged with such connotations as ambiguity, boundary-breaking, and hybridity. Exhibitions such as anatomical waxworks, in which deceased or diseased human bodies are impersonated in wax, or anthropomorphic taxidermy, in which dead animal bodies enact scenes of the human world, are some examples of public display that challenge the boundary between the living and the dead, the human and the thing. On the other hand, "memorial photography," the postmortem photographs that actually capture the lifeless bodies of the dearly departed, sometimes depicting them in day-to-day activities or situating them among the living sitters, further complicates the element of death that Roland Barthes claims to be inevitably innate in photography. Another type of photographs that supposedly captures the deceased even without their bodies, the "spirit photography," was actually produced through double exposure--which means the "spirits" overlooking the living sitters were actually images of the living, passed for the dead. While anthropomorphic taxidermy feature dead animal bodies playing the roles of living human beings, and postmortem photography feature dead human bodies playing the roles of the living or even other dead bodies (such as "staged" wartime photographs), spirit photography feature living human beings playing the roles of the deceased. Here death becomes part of the theatricality. Other nineteenth-century visual sensations such as embalmed bodies, cemetery sculptures, optograms, and tableaux vivants are also examples of public display of dead bodies or their representations that question the boundary between human body and things, and will also be examined in this project. |
