德希達（Jacques Derrida）的兩本著作：《給予的時間：I.偽幣》及《死亡的禮物》掀起「禮物經濟」議題的研究風潮，至今仍方興未艾。當代禮物經濟的概念可追溯至法國社會學家馬歇‧牟斯（Marcel Mauss）名著的《禮物》,書中他提出「全面性報稱體系」（the system of total prestation）的概念，並指出看似簡單及志願性的個人送禮行為，其背後卻隱含著複雜交錯的社會因素。亦即，禮物交換經濟乃構成全面性社會網絡的重要基石之一。德希達一方面駁斥牟斯的義務性禮物交換，另一方面引用禮物交換中與他者的關係，提出「絕對禮物」的概念—真正的禮物並非建立在「互惠原則」 （reciprocity）之下，而是對於「絕對禮物」的「非對稱性」（dissymmetrical）給予，以此構成「超越式的禮物經濟體」。對德希達而言，在禮物交換經濟中每次的給予均是對「絕對他者」的回應，但每次的給予卻成為一種永恆的失落，因此瓦解傳統禮物經濟中「贈與受」的二元流動。德希達解構式「禮物經濟」的概念即為此論文主要的研究視野。從此具有洞見的註釋角度，筆者將開展在童妮‧摩里森《愛》中的隱含的禮物經濟學。如同小說的標題，「愛」可被視為一個無法完善達到至臻至美的禮物概念，故事敘述圍繞在六個女人對一個男人的愛，參雜著人物間糾結無解的愛，妒忌仇恨的友誼以及殖民歷史造成的認同問題。因此，本論文將分為四個主要部分來探討《愛》中的三種不同卻又交織的禮物經濟：一、何為禮物交換經濟？二、小說中「愛」作為禮物的交換經濟。三、「友誼」作為禮物的交換經濟。四、「黑人認同」作為禮物的交換經濟。結論將總結本論文中小說與理論間交互論證與開啟的論點。

The study of the economy of gift, a concept explored in Jacques Derrida’s Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money and The Gift of Death, is a contemporary continuation of French sociologist Marcel Mauss’s famous work, The Gift, the idea of “the system of total prestation.” As Mauss argues, the seemingly simple and voluntary “giving,”actually, interweaves various complicated factors. The economy of gift exchange constitutes the base of a comprehensive social network. On the one hand, Derrida refutes Mauss’s obligatory gift-exchange; on the other hand, he grafts the relationship between self and other in gift-exchange and proposes the idea of “absolute Gift.”Rather than under “the principle of reciprocity,” the absolute pure Gift can only be given in “dissymmetrical” relation, which constitutes a “transgressive type of the economy of gift.” Under the spectral haunting, each giving is not only a response to the call of the“absolute Other,” but is also an eternal loss itself. However, it is the absolute Gift that deconstructs the traditional dual economy of giving and taking. Derrida’s
deconstructive concept of the “economy of gift” is the main argument of this thesis. Moreover, based on this framework, I intend to apply the economy of gift to Toni Morrison’s Love. As its title implies, the word “Love” imparts a perfect unreachable state, which echoes exactly Derrida’s absolute Gift. Love, dealing with six different women’s love of one man, is mixed with unresolved
intricate love, resentful jealous friendship, and the problem of post-colonial identity. Hence, this thesis seeks to explore the following four ideas in Toni Morrison’s Love: 1) What is the economy of Gift? 2) “Love as Gift” in the economy of Gift. 3) “Friendship as Gift” in the economy of Gift, and 4) “Blackness as Gift” in the economy of Gift. The thesis will be concluded by highlighting both the intertwined argument between the novel and Derridean theory, and the potential issues that it raises.

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