GENDER AND ENVIRONMENTAL UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA IN PAUL AUSTER’S
IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS
要旨
ポール・オースターの『最後の物たちの国で』は、兄を探すために主人公アンナが未知のディストピアの世界に入り、そこでいかに生き残るかを語る小説である。本論は、主人公アンナをエコフェミニストとして捉え、彼女がこのディストピアの世界で経験した様々なことをジェンダーとエコロジーの視点から分析することを試みる。第一章では、市内の街、イサベルとフェーディナンドのアパート、国立図書館、病院であるウォーブン・ハウス、といった四箇所に分けて分析する。まず、街の中で生まれたユートピア・トークあるいはアンナのいう「ゴーストの言葉」と彼女が街の廃品を回収するためのシッピング・カードをもたらす異化効果を明らかにする。続いて、フェミニズムの視点から主人公アンナとフェーディナンドの妻であるイサベルが受けた精神的・身体的暴力を分析する。次に、国立図書館で生まれたアンナとサムの愛情関係の基盤となっているディストピア的な現実及びユートピア的な理想について考察する。そして、ウォーブン・ハウスでの女性同士の性的行為を注目し、アンナのセクシュアリティーにおける多様性とユートピア性について論じる。第二章において、アンナの廃品が消える前に回収する行為は文字が消える前にノートに記述する行為とはパラレルな構造にある点に焦点を当て、アンナの手紙を書くことは一種のエコ運動であることを示す。以上の考察を踏まえて、『最後の物たちの国で』は環境と文学のコネクターとして理解することができることを論証する。
Abstract
Paul Auster’s In The Country of Last Things represents a future dystopian society where all mankind suffers not only from starvation, diseases, murder, and lack of resources but also from a near-total destruction of humanity. Anna Blume, an eighteen-year-old young lady, arrives in an unnamed land in order to search for her brother, William, a journalist who disappeared while on an investigation. However, as soon as Anna arrives, she realizes that the only way to survive in this dystopian land is to forget her former comfort and former self “I continued to live and breathe, to move from one place to another, but I could not escape the thought that I was dead, that nothing could ever bring me to life again.”
Drawing on Anna’s personal experiences, this presentation focuses on connecting the environmental and gender issues that appeared in this future dystopian society with the present society in which we are involved. Part One concentrates on associating the dystopian elements that appeared in Last Things—the weather, rape, murder, diseases, starvation, lack of resources and shelters—with our present society. Part Two further uncovers the utopian elements behind those dystopian circumstances, analyzing the relation between utopian/dystopian ideas and the environment surrounding us. In this section, the following will be discussed: the “language of ghost”; masturbation; “runners” and “leapers”; Ferdinand’s ship and Isabel’s magic; “shit and garbage”; the “assassination Clubs” and “Euthanasia Clinics”; the heterosexual love between Anna and Sam; and the lesbian love between Anna and Victoria.
The last part of the presentation focuses on the symbolism of the character Anna and her connection with the readers. Although several crises make Anna a candidate for rescue, her intelligence makes her an independent survivor, representing an agent between the world of the future and the present. Through Anna the ecofeminist, the readers realize that the oppression of women and the earth can no longer be addressed in isolation. In fact, if we intend to make our world a better world, it is necessary to start making efforts to solve the environmental and gender issues we have in our society now so that our future will not become one where “the farther you go back, the more beautiful and desirable the world becomes” but rather one where the farther we go on, the more beautiful and desirable the world becomes.