臺灣博碩士論文加值系統

在這個快速變遷的現代社會，生物跟環境間的隔閡正快速擴展。而在《異族創世紀》裡，奧特薇亞．巴特勒結合她獨特的生長背景及女性細緻的觀點提出對當代社會動盪最犀利的解讀。
以黎明前的黑暗作為代表意向，巴特勒描繪著一個支離破碎的地球環境以及瀕臨滅絕的人類文明，唯有與來自異星的生物交流融合，人類才有生存的希望。但是與生聚來的智慧及根深蒂固的階級觀念在此刻卻成為地球物種延續的絆腳石。相對於人類的保守及抗拒，巴特勒幻想中的異星生物對於變異的熱愛為改變的可能性做出了最佳詮釋。藉此設定，作者表現出對於現代社會中二元排他論的不滿並且提出唯一的可能性，那就是擁抱多元性。
唯有拋棄既有的階級界線與自大心態，生物與環境之間的連結會更完整，而賽伯格一詞的出現正式為人類未來發展定下了更完整的定義。本文以後人類的身體觀點出發，探討《異族創世紀》中所呈現的跨界可能性。探討的方向由延展的人類身體意像衍生到聚像化的賽伯格，從而點出人類社會結構上的巨大演化。唯有不再被原有的二元階級觀念所箝制，人類才能適應並生存於這個多變的世紀，而奧特薇亞．巴特勒以生動的文筆寫出了獨屬於後人類的創世紀。

Depicting the constant conflicts between human beings and aliens, Octavia E. Butler points out the root of the problem in contemporary human society in her Xenogenesis Trilogy. Presenting to us that hierarchy as the inherent nature of human beings may lead to destruction and devastation to human civilization, Butler offers us a solution to the possible nightmarish future: we should embrace difference and change.
The thesis aims to explore the issue of transgressing boundaries manifested in Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy from the posthuman perspective. While the traditional hierarchies tend to discourage and even obstruct the development of new subjectivity, the posthuman perspective propels us to re-consider what “body” is and what “human” is. With its focus on the fluidity and flexibility of human subjectivity, the conception of the poshuman resonates with that of boundary-crossing in the Xenogenesis trilogy. Beginning with the transformation of the human body, the story presents us an image of the cyborg. The formation of the cyborg, or changes of the body, leads to the re-formation of the social structures. Based on the comparison between critical and textual evidences, the core of boundary-crossing would be presented in this thesis.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． i
Chinese Abstract ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．ii
English Abstract ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．iii
Table of Contents ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． iv

Chapter One: Introduction ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．001
I. Background Knowledge ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．002
1. Octavia Butler and Female Science Fiction ．．．．．．．．．．002
2. Xenogenesis Trilogy as a Text of Critical Dystopia ．．．．．．．003
3. Plot Summary of Xenogenesis Trilogy ．．．．．．．．．．．．004
a. Dawn ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．004
b. Adulthood Rites ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．005
c. Imago ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．006
II. Major Concerns and Related Studies of Xenogenesis Trilogy ．．．．．006
1. The Memory of Past ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．007
a. The Effects of Black Heritage ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．007
b. The Implied Violence within the Texts ．．．．．．．．．．008
2. The Concerns of the Contemporary Social Issues ．．．．．．．．010
a. A Debate on What “Human” Is ．．．．．．．．．．．．．010
b. The Concept of Hospitality ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．011
3. Envisioning a Better Future ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．012
III. The Theoretical Framework of the Thesis ．．．．．．．．．．．．．013
1. Posthuman / Cyborg: Transgression of the Borders ．．．．．．．013
a. The Invasion of Machines ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．014
b. The Birth of Cyborg ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．016
c. The Possibility of Breaking Boundaries: Amalgam ．．．．．018
IV. The Subject of this Thesis ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．019
1. Main Argument ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．019
2. The Outline of the Following Chapters ．．．．．．．．．．．．021

Chapter Two: Human or Nonhuman? The Reconstruction of the (Post)Human Body ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．023
I. The Fear of Difference: Intelligence and Hierarchical Inclination ．．．．026
II. From the Human to the Posthuman ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．029
1. Lilith: the First Step ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．031
2. Akin: the Progression ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．036
3. Jodahs: the Final Success ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．041
III. Conclusion ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．045

Chapter Three: The Alien Body and the Embodiment of Cybernetic 　　Amalgams ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．047
I. Cyborg: the Symbol of Border-Crossing between Artificial and Natural
Subjects ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．047
II. The Different Organic Machines and Their Significances ．．．．．．．059
1. The Ooloi: As an Organic Cyborg ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．059
2. The Ships: the Organic Transportations ．．．．．．．．．．．．067
III. Conclusion ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．072

Chapter Four: The Posthuman Social Structures: New Forms of Gender, Family, and Community ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．075
I. The Problematic Regulations of Human Community ．．．．．．．．．075
II. The Transformation of Social Constructive Elements: Gender, Family and Community ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．079
1. Gender ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．080
2. Family ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．088
3. Community ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．099
III. Conclusion ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．103

Chapter Five: Conclusion: Beyond the Boundaries, There Is Hope Still ．．．105
I. Introduction ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．105
1. Xenogenesis as an Example of Critical Dystopia ．．．．．．．．108
2. The Strength of Female Science Fiction in Xenogenesis ．．．．．111
II. Border-Crossing: Hope for Future ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．114
III. Conclusion: No More Limitation ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．117

Works Cited ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．121

Works Cited
Baccolini, Raffaella, and Tom Moylan, eds. Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imaginations. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Baccolini, Raffaella. “Gender and Genre in the Feminist Critical Dystopias of Katharine Burdekin, Margaret Atwood, and Octavia Butler.” Future Female, the Next Generation: New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. Ed. Marleen S. Barr. Lanham: Rowman, 2000. 13-34. Print.
---. “The Persistence of Hope in Dystopian Science Fiction.” PMLA 119.3 (2004): 518-21. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Beal, Frances M. “Block Women and the Science Fiction Genre: Interview with Octavia Butler.” Black Scholar 17.2 (1986): 14-18. Print.
Becker, Barbara. “Cyborgs, Agents, and Transhumanists: Crossing Traditional Borders of Body and Identity in the Context of New Technology.” Lenoardo 33.5 (2000): 361-65. JSTOR. Web. 20 July 2011.
Belk, Nolan. “The Certainty of the Flesh: Octavia Butler’s Use of the Erotic in the Xenogenesis Trilogy.” Utopian Studies 19.3 (2008): 369-89. Wilson Web. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
Bendle, Mervyn F. “Teleportation, Cyborgs and the Posthuman Ideology.” Social Semiotics 12.1 (2002): 45-62. EBSCO. Web. 20 July 2011.
Bonner, Frances. “Differences and Desire, Slavery and Seduction: Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis.” Foundation 48 (1990): n. pag. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
Braid, Christina. “Contemplating and Contesting Violence in Dystopia: Violence in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis.” Contemporary Justice Review 9.1 (2006): 47-65. EBSCO. Web. 6 March 2011.
Butler, Octavia E. Adulthood Rites. New York: Warner Books, 1988. Print.
---. Dawn. New York: Warner Books, 1987. Print.
---. Imago. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Print.
Butler, Octavia E., and Samuel R. Delany. Interview. MIT Cultural Studies Project. Francis 142-57.
Colatrella, Carol. “Science Fiction in the Information Age.” American Literary History 11.3 (1999): 554-65. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Curtis. Claire P. “Rehabilitating Utopia: Feminist Science Fiction and Finding the Ideal.” Contemporary Justice Review 8.2 (2005): 147-62. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
---. “Theorizing Fear: Octavia Butler and the Realist Utopia.” Utopia Studies 19.3 (2008): 411-31. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Descartes, René. Philosophical Essays: Discourse on Method; Meditations; Rules for the Direction of the Mind. Trans. Laurence J. Lafleur. New York: Macmillan, 1989. Print.
Donawerth, Jane. “Body Parts: Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Short Stories by Women.” PMLA 119.4 (2004): 474-81. JSTOR. Web. 20 July 2011.
Francis, Conseula, ed. Conversations with Octavia Butler. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2010. Print.
Genova, Judith. “Tiptree and Haraway: The Reinvention of Nature.” Cultural Critique 27 (1994): 5-27. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Goss, Theodora, and John Paul Riquelme. “From Superhuman to Posthuman: the Gothic Technological Imaginary in Marry Shelly’s Frankenstein and Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 52.3 (2007): 434-59. Project Muse. 30 June 2011.
Govan, Sandra Y. “Homage to Tradition: Octavia Butler Renovates the Historical Novel.” MELUS 13.1-2 (1986): 79-96. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Graham, Elaine. “Cyborgs or Goddesses? Becoming Divine in a Cyberfeminist Age.” Information, Communication & Society 2.4 (1999): 419-38. EBSCO. Web. 20 July 2011.
Haney, William S., II. “Cyborgs, Posthumanism and Short Fiction.” Atenea 28.2 (2008): 157-67. EBSCO. Web. 20 July 2011.
Haraway, Donna. “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 2269-99. Print.
Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1999. Print.
Hursthouse, Rosalind. Ethics, Humans, and Other Animals: An Introduction with Readings. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Jacobs, Naomi. “Posthuman Bodies and Agency in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis.” Baccolini and Moylan 91-111.
Kendall, Lisa See. “Octavia E. Butler: In Her Science Fiction She Project the Answer to Society’s Ills.” Publishers Weekly 240.50 (1993): n. pag. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
Lefanu, Sarah. In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction. London: Women’s Press, 1988. Print.
Levitas, Ruth, and Lucy Sargisson. “Utopia in Dark Times: Optimism/Pessimism and Utopia/Dystopia.” Baccolini and Moylan 13-27.
Mehaffy, Marilyn, and AnaLouise Keating. “‘Radio Imagination’: Octavia Butler on the Poetics of Narrative Embodiment.” MELUS 26.1 (2001): 45-76. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Melzer, Patricia. “‘Change My Cultural “Coloring” Again’: Anti-Colonial Identities in Octavia E. Butler’s Feminist Science Fiction.” International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 1.3 (2005): 247-61. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Michaels, Walter Benn. “Political Science Fictions.” New Literary History 31.4 (2000): 649-64. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Moylan, Tom. Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. New York: Methuen, 1986. Print.
Osherow, Michele. “The Dawn of a New Lilith: Revisionary Mythmaking in Women’s Science Fiction.” NWSA Journal 12.1 (2000): 69-83. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Outterson, Sarah. “Diversity, Change, Violence: Octavia Butler’s Pedagogical Philosophy.” Utopian Studies 19.3 (2008): 433-56. EBSCO. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
Peppers, Cathy. “Dialogic Origins and Alien Identities in Butler’s Xenogenesis.” Science Fiction Studies 22.1 (1995): 47-62. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2011.
Pott, Stephen W. “‘We Keep Playing the Same Record’: A Conversation with Octavia Butler.” Francis 65-73.
Ross, Charlotte. “Creating the Ideal Posthuman Body? Cyborg Sex and Gender in the Work of Buzzati, Vacca, and Ammaniti.” Italica 82.3 (2005): 222-47. JSTOR. Web. 20 July 2011.
Sands, Peter. “Essays on Octavia Butler: Octavia Butler’s Chiastic Cannibalistics.” Utopia Studies 14.1 (2003): 1-14. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Smith, Stephanie A. “Octavia Butler: A Retrospective.” Feminist Studies 33.2 (2007): 385-93. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Squier, Susan. “Interspecies Reproduction: Xenogenic Desire and the Feminist Implications of Hybrids.” Cultural Studies 12.1 (1998): 360-81. EBSCO. Web. 30 June 2011.
Wolmark, Jenny. Aliens and Others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1994. Print.
Wood, Sarah. “Subversion through Inclusion: Octavia Butler’s Interrogation of Religion in Xenogenesis and Wild Seed.” Femspec 6.1 (2005): 87-99. Wilson Web. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.