Rethinking diaspora: deconstruction, hybridity, and heterogeneous Space in salman Rushdie's the satanic verses

魯西迪的《魔鬼詩篇》深入探討後現代千變萬化的世界中，離散社群自我定位、痛苦折磨、適應及抗拒的生活經驗。不可思議的故事，訴說著蛻變、脫軌及位置錯亂。故事描述離散主體痛苦經歷的困境，包含惡劣的生活居住環境、對故國家園的懷舊、以及企圖歸化殖民母國的矛盾情結。除此之外，故事亦涉及離散主體如何挪用及顛覆帝國中心僵硬、死板、堅不可摧的傳統。以離散主體的身份認同作為論述的根本基石，本論文主要由三個方面探討《魔鬼詩篇》中的離散社群：〈一〉瞬息萬變、反覆無常的後現代世界中，離散主體的生活經驗。〈二〉不可避免的揉雜狀態。〈三〉離散社群挪用異質空間。 第二章分為兩個部份：後現代狀態及漂泊離散。此章旨在解釋後現代性宣示一無所適從、無所寄託的新時代來臨，其顯著特色為斷裂性、不穩定性、易變性。此外，此章亦探討離散主體的經驗以及其面臨的認同危機。第三章闡述揉雜狀態之不可避免以及其崩解西方權威的潛能。文化揉雜強調不同文化間存在著不可翻譯性，因此，文化揉雜超越僵硬、堅不可摧的二元性，突顯非此亦非彼的可能性。同樣地，跨界過程中產生的語言揉雜也是應強調的重點。第四章由兩個面向探討《魔鬼詩篇》中的空間概念：空間的異質性以及離散主體的空間挪用。空間的不確定及易變本質和離散主體的能動性相當有關，藉由祕密的計謀以及游擊戰式的攻擊，離散主體得以改變空間的形塑，找到自我的空間並創造獨特的空間故事。透過這三個面向，本論文揭櫫離散主體的能動性，其利用不穩定的狀態開創無盡的可能性。An astounding novel revolving around metamorphosis, aberration, and dislocation, The Satanic Verses goes deep into the diasporic experience of self-positioning, torment, adaptation, and resistance in a kaleidoscopic and contingent postmodern world. It sharply delineates the predicaments pungently experienced by diasporic subjects, including the adverse residential environment, diaspora’s nostalgic attempt to grasp the distant past of homeland, and the ambivalent yearning to transform themselves “from the sojourners to settlers” (Barker 204). Besides, the text deals with how diasporic subjects appropriate and subvert the established norms of the imperial center. In consequence, the complicated issue of the diasporic identity turns out to be the underlying cornerstone in this thesis. The major concern of this thesis is to explore the entire novel principally from three angles: the diasporic experience in a world of disintegration and mutability, hybridity as an inevitable phenomenon, and the diasporic appropriation of the heterogeneous space. Chapter II is divided into two parts: the postmodern and diaspora. This chapter aims not only to explain that transience and fragmentation—the salient features of postmodernity—usher in a new age without foundation but also to explore the diasporic experience and the identity crisis confronted by diasporic subjects in the postmodern era. In Chapter III, the ineluctable phenomenon of hybridity and its latent capability to dismantle the authority of the West are meticulously scrutinized. Underscoring the untranslatability among diverse cultures, cultural hybridity transcends the inflexibility, stubbornness, and impenetrability of an either-or situation and brings to light the possibilities of a neither-nor situation. By the same token, the power of linguistic hybridity—a phenomenon taking place in the process of trans-territorial crossing—is also highlighted in The Satanic Verses. In Chapter IV, the concept of space in The Satanic Verses is meticulously investigated from two aspects: the heterogeneous nature of space and spatial appropriation by diasporic subjects. The indeterminate, mutable, discontinuous, and heterogeneous nature of space is closely related to the agency of diasporic subjects. With underground tactics and guerilla attack, diasporic subjects are able to alter the configuration of space, to search out their own space, and to create their own spatial stories. By means of delving into these three aspects, this thesis explores the agency of diasporic subjects to take advantage of their unsteady position and to open up endless possibilities