二十世紀中葉的歐陸，有一群後結構主義(post-structuralist)的思想家，沸沸揚揚地撻伐理性主義的主體觀(subjectivity)。他們解構單一(single)、自主(autonomous) 的身分認同，強調一切主體皆是由文化霸權(cultural hegemony)所建構出來的，沒有人能逃離社會文化的論述(discourse)框架。所以我們的主體不是一種固定而不變的存在(fixed entity)；相反地，它隨著時空、隨著內在的潛意識力量而變動。種族、性別的自我認同就是最好的例證。一個生在現代的文明社會，和生在古希臘社會的男人或女人，對自我的認知、價值觀就會不同。所以我們所謂的主體，其實只是對某種論述的臣服而已。我們感應某種論述的召喚(hail)，進而在不知不覺中了接受了這個主體的位置(position)，而後在這個位置上，和處於別的位置的人，進行權力與意志的爭鬥，這就是一般人的生命相貌。叔本華(Schopenhauer, 1788-1860) 在【意志和表象的世界】一書中，對此有精彩的論述: ：「意志自身在本質上是沒有一切目的，一切止境的，它是一個無盡的追求。」所以後結構主義的主體觀，基本上延續了叔本華的看法，強調人只是意志的表現現象；而此意志又受制於不同時空下的不同論述。由此我們得到的真知灼見就是，人從生下來的那一刻開始，就是不自由的，無法自主的。

生苦、老苦、病苦、死苦，
憂悲惱苦、怨憎會苦，

恩愛別離苦、所欲不得苦。
取要言之：五盛陰苦，

是謂名為苦諦。

~ 增一阿含經，佛告五比丘

「目送」一書為龍應台女士在2008年出版的散文集，她以平實的文字述說著人與人之間的情感，談到她為人父母，也為人子女所感受到的點點滴滴。 所有篇章流露出佛家所說的苦締，尤其是八苦中的愛別離苦---生命注定是要與親愛的人分離；感情再濃郁的兩人，就像暫時聚首的同林鳥，大限來時還是得各自飛。所以讀完此書，更加堅定我對佛法苦締的信念，從而策勵自己學會珍惜而後放下。

書中第一篇文章是「目送」－當作者看著自己的兒子一天一天長大，於是她發現，在他的人生道路上，似乎只能望著她兒子的背影逐漸離去。她試著了解她兒子的想法，試著走近她兒子的內心世界，然而他所走的路，她卻無法同行。於是龍應台想起，她與她父親的關係，似乎也是如此，很多時候，她只能一次又一次地目送她的父親背影離開，生離是，死別更是。文章中最貼近人心的一段話：「我慢慢地、慢慢地了解到，所謂父女母子一場，只不過意味著，你和他的緣分就是今生今世不斷地在目送他的背影漸行漸遠。你站立在小路的這一端，看著他逐漸消失在小路轉彎的地方，而且，他用背影默默告訴你：不必追」。

The British author and journalist George Orwell (1903-1950) was famous for his satire against totalitarianism.  Nineteen Eighty-Four , for example, is a very popular novel with the term“Big Brother”becoming a synonym of governmental surveillance. His political writings, together with his essays, established him as one of the most influential voices of the 20th century.

     For those who want to have a good command of academic writing, Orwell’ s essays are the right source for imitation. His style is lucid, vivid and precise. The following passages embody his perspicacious insight on childhood experience, national characteristics and sainthood.

談「失落的世界」中之殖民主義

     恐龍在文學及電影的想像中，不外是一種遲緩、笨拙、怪誕及過時的龐然大物。它被賦予的抽象意義總是負面而具威脅性。以電影「侏羅紀公園」的續集「失落的世界」為例，恐龍再次成為和人類敵對的他者(the other)，讓人類陷入極大的危機與恐懼中。以商業電影而言，它的視覺特效值得讚賞，給觀眾帶來不少娛樂。享受完感官刺激之餘，再對它的意識型態稍加省思，便能發掘其中的殖民主義(colonialism)。筆者在本文中，試以西方強權的殖民經驗來解讀此影片。

A Reverie on Emily Dickens (1830-1886)

A sunny Sunday morning overflowing

Sublime songs from the church next door

Shafts of sunlight piercing the sedate heart

Thus comes to life the apparition of Emily Dickens----

She lulls and she comforts:

以遲暮之心重讀琦君的菁姐，對於那眷戀過去的情懷，別有一番滋味在心頭! 陳去非的「臨江仙」中有這麼一句：「長溝流月去無聲，杏花疏影裡，弄笛到天明。」是怎樣的執著，讓人只顧弄笛，忘了夜深，也忘了時光的流轉，直到天明? 能這樣弄笛的人應該是最幸福的人了! 心中只為一件事，不為一個人而活。做個徹底的美學家吧，可愛的菁姐。活在藝術裏，即便是高處不勝寒，總勝於悲歡離合的情愛世界。寧可起舞弄清影，也不要望眼欲穿的等待。等待是被閹割的女人姿態；追尋、探索是男人的氣度。執著於情愛的女人是原始的叢林，只能被動的等待探險家的開發。讓張愛玲的名言絕跡江湖吧，菁姐!「女人一旦愛上一個男人，如賜予女人的一杯毒酒，心甘情願的以一種最美的姿勢一飲而盡，一切的心都交了出去，生死度外！」情愛之毒酒不可飲；Emily Dickens的詩行要謹記啊: “The Sweeping up the Heart / And putting Love away / We shall not want to use again / Until Eternity---掃淨心中之癡 / 移走愛情 / 我們不想再碰它 /直至長眠時 

     Two striking forms of subversion find expression in feminist discourses. They are the anti-narrative and parodic strategies respectively, which are aimed to fight against the patriarchal discourses. 

    

Prologue

In the play Blue Bird, each person is said to be born with a gift from their previous life. A pair of lovers are unwilling to be separated from each other when their life comes to an end. Before they embark on the journey for next life, they are anxious to know how they can recognize each other in afterlife. The woman says, “I’ll take the gift of ‘sadness’to my next life so that you can recognize me easily.” So, from generation to generation, “sadness” becomes a distinguishing mark of lovers. The couple without true love have no such privilege! And happy is the man who can do without love all his life, for he carries no such gift as “sadness” from his previous life. 

     Susan Sontag’s comments on photography are so penetrating!

     For those hard-working people, taking pictures enthusiastically on vacations means to appease the anxiety of not working. They are supposed to have fun on vacation, so they take pictures, which is a friendly imitation of work.

     For a family, not to take pictures of one’s children, particularly when they are small, is a sign of parental indifference, just as not turning for one’s graduation picture is a gesture of adolescence rebellion. We like to take pictures of kids when they are so small and cute. That’s to record the youth and vigor which will fade away with the passage of time.

     The same thing with taking pictures of a beautiful landscape. We record the space which we do not possess, so that later, when we look at the picture, it is as if we owned the fantastic sight there. Everything shot by cameras is our belongings. Therefore, to record is to possess; taking pictures is nothing more than a gesture to claim the ownership of space and time.    

     For most people, photography is not practiced as an art. it is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power. Having a camera has transformed a person into something active, a voyeur! The adjustable lens of a camera are just like the penis of a male---to extend and to shot is to invade. How terribly true it is!!

Sadism is not a name finally given to a practice as old as Eros; it is a massive cultural fact ---which constitutes one of the greatest conversions of Western imagination: unreason transformed into delirium of the heart, madness of desire, the insane dialogue of love and death in the limitless presumption of appetite

(Madness and Civilization, 210)

     In the film, Quills(鵝毛筆), Marquis de Sade is portrayed as a victim of social hypocrisy. Indeed he is, in the way he is tortured by the ward guardian, who makes a fortune by publishing his writings after he dies miserably in the asylum. Analyzed from the perspective of madness, Sade means more than a victim of Christian morality. He reveals the true essence of madness, as Madeleine, his devoted reader in the film claims, “You can't be a proper writer without a touch of madness, can you?”