「如現實成夢」：以布萊希亞理論閱讀艾蜜莉．狄金生詩作 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士論文. 指導教授：楊麗敏先生 Advisor：Dr. Li-Min Yang. 治政大「如現實成夢」：以布萊希亞理論閱讀艾蜜莉．狄金生詩作立 ‧. ‧ 國. 學. “As made Reality a Dream”: A Baudrillardian Reading of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：吳信賢撰 Name: Hsin-Hsien Wu 中華民國 109 年 1 月 January 2020. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(2) “As made Reality a Dream”: A Baudrillardian Reading of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. National Chengchi University. 學 ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Hsin-Hsien Wu January 2020. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(3) Acknowledgement For finishing this thesis, there are so many to whom I owe a sincere debt of gratitude. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my advisor Dr. Li-min Yang, whose kind tolerance for my lengthy sentences and loosely structured paragraphs gives me incredible freedom to express myself dauntlessly on these pages. Her patience also proves her respects on some of my mercilessly difficult philosophical arguments which she always tries to understand and then polish for. 政治大. better clarity. Her profound ideas are genuinely a precious help for not only my pages. 立. but also myself as a writer. In addition, I would also like to express my deep thanks to. ‧ 國. 學. my defence examiners, Dr. Ya-feng Wu and Dr. Li-hsin Hsu, both of whom. ‧. pinpointed the elusiveness of my thesis with their sharp observations and kindly offered me their enlightening opinions as well as suggestions for my future research.. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. Another person that I am in great gratitude for is Dr. Monika Leipelt-Tsai,. v. n. who I have worked as her assistant for long since the MA programme. Her abundant. Ch. engchi. i n U. knowledge on literature and critical theories surely broadens my vision and sharpens the way I consider the poems during the composition period of my thesis. It is nearly the insights we often exchanged on some literary works that feed some of my idiosyncratic interpretations on the texts in the thesis. I appreciate, in particular, those moments of epiphany when a torrent of new ideas came to challenge overwhelmingly but inspire me a lot. With the successful completion of my thesis, I also owe tremendous thanks to my dear supporter Dr. Chawarote Valyamedhi, who in the period of composition for iii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(4) the thesis, especially the last two months, not only gave me the warmest support but also motivated me to accomplish such length of writing. His ceaseless encouragement not just breeds the march of the presence of my chapters; it serves more as a valueless access to my individuality and also self-worth, by which I embrace an intact me. His presence is just so precious as a deus ex machina, which strengthens me at the last minute. Also, there are quite a number of lovely people for whom I am extremely. 政治大. grateful for. I would like to thank all the secretaries of our department, who are never. 立. tired of offering me considerable help. Without the aid of them, I would have never. ‧ 國. 學. achieved so much as now. I am also thankful for being in the company of so many. ‧. supportive friends: Demi, Gloria, Lucy, Da-hao, Agustín, and those who once assisted me in every respect. I appreciate not only their wise counsels for my research subject. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. but also their extraordinary character of fortitude which displays no look of. v. n. annoyance at being my primary readers. I feel nothing but honoured to be with these amazing people.. Ch. engchi. i n U. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my most deep debt to my family, who never gives up on me and always allows me to pursue what I strive for. I am thankful for the sound understanding they show throughout the difficult period of composition for all the pages and chapters in the thesis. I also thank all the love and liberty I embrace in the warmth of my family.. iv. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(5) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文提要. 論文名稱：「如現實成夢」：以布萊希亞理論閱讀艾蜜莉．狄金生詩作指導教授：楊麗敏先生研究生：吳信賢論文提要內容：本論文試圖透過尚．布萊希亞對於擬像與複製之概念，探求艾蜜莉．狄金生詩作中「夢」這一概念的後現代面容。藉助布萊希亞對於符號霸權的思. 政治大號。本文不僅於詩人關於夢與作夢的寫作中，深思其中符號的無所不在，並更立將觀察延伸，在詩人思慮社會的其他詩作中，探詢這所謂「符號」的影響。索，本文將狄金生的夢境意象視作一種空想，並察覺其招來人們欲求理想的符. ‧ 國. 學. 本論文周旋在三個面向之間：夢的概念、人類社會裡的社會關聯、烏托邦/反烏托邦夢境空間。藉著探討詩作〈我們作夢——正是好我們做夢著〉(強. ‧. 生 531)、〈夢猶如細微的嫁妝〉(強生 1376)、〈死期正像是無門的房屋〉(強. y. Nat. 生 475)，本文首先深思「夢」一詞的各種定義，並試圖將這樣所謂的「夢」定. sit. 義為欲求理想的空想。而在這個符號主宰的夢域中，必須注意的是，空想從不. er. io. 帶來理想，反而只是欺騙地招來理想的符號作為替代。. al. v i n Ch 〈瘋癲相當才是最神聖的理性——〉(強生 i U e n g c h 435)、〈文明——鄙斥——那花豹 n. 隨著分析另三首詩〈我一早出發——帶著我的狗——〉(強生 520)、. 呀！〉(強生 492)，本文探討詩文中對人類社會的視察。考量著人類社會裡的社會關聯，詩人對於人們追求理想的夢/空想，被扣於社會次序的問題，以及自我與他者的衝突上。最後，藉著探索詩作〈「天堂」帶著不同符號——對我來說〉(強生 575)、〈那裏有著某一道歪斜的光，〉(強生 258)、〈身在那狹小蜂巢中〉(強生 1607)，一個飄忽在烏托邦與反烏托邦分界之間的夢境空間最終被察見。而所謂意義的曖昧不明也在此審視著。. 關鍵字：艾蜜莉．狄金生、尚．布萊希亞、擬像、符號、夢/空想、社會、烏托邦/反烏托邦. v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(6) Abstract This thesis proposes to pursue a rather postmodernist landscape of Emily Dickinson’s concept of dream in several of her poems, in light of Jean Baudrillard’s idea of simulation and simulacra. With a Baudrillardian consideration that aims at the supremacy of signs, the thesis reads Dickinson’s dream imagery as an equivalent of fantasy that brings signs to actualise one’s desire for the ideal. The thesis not only. 政治大. considers the prevalence of signs in the poet’s writings on dream and dreaming. More. 立. extensively, it also traces the effectiveness of the so-called “signs” in a wider range of. ‧ 國. 學. her poems where locates the poet’s concern over human society.. ‧. The thesis wanders around three aspects: the notion of dreams defined as. Nat. io. sit. y. ideals and deception, social relationships within human society, and the. er. utopian/dystopian dreamscape. With “We dream – it is good we are dreaming –” (J. al. n. v i n C(Jh1376), and “DoomUis the House without 531), “Dreams are the subtle Dower” engchi. Door” (J 475) examined, the thesis firstly considers the diverse definitions of the term “dream,” and tends to define the alleged “dream” as fantasy about desiring the ideal. Yet, in the realm of dream where signs dominate, it is also noted that fantasy never brings the ideal but just deceptively summons signs of the ideal for substitution. With another three poems “I started Early – Took my Dog –” (J 520), “Much Madness is divinest Sense –” (J 435), and “Civilization – spurns – the Leopard!” (J. vi. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(7) 492) discussed, a deeper concern about human society is then taken in the thesis. Concerning social relationship within human society, the poet’s concerns over the dream/fantasy about the ideal are thus anchored at the problems of social order and the conflicts between the self and the Other. Lastly, with three poems of Emily Dickinson “‘Heaven’ has different Signs – to me –” (J 575), “There’s a certain Slant of light,” (J 258), and “Within that little. 政治大. Hive” (J 1607) explored, the manifestation of the utopian/dystopian dreamscape is a. 立. final focus in the thesis. The question of vagueness in meaning here is also. ‧ 國. 學. sophisticatedly examined.. ‧. Nat. io. sit. y. Keywords: Emily Dickinson, Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra, Sign, Dream/Fantasy,. n. al. er. Society, Utopia/Dystopia. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. vii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(8) Table of Content Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................... iii Chinese Abstract ............................................................................................................ v English Abstract ............................................................................................................ vi Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 I.. Literature Review ............................................................................................... 3. II.. Problems............................................................................................................. 8. III. Methodology .................................................................................................... 11 IV. Chapter Organization ....................................................................................... 15 Chapter Two: Dream with Simulacra .......................................................................... 21 I. II.. 學. ‧ 國. III.. 政治大 Warning against Dream and Dreaming ............................................................ 23 立 Dreaming about the Ideal ................................................................................. 28 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 21. IV. Mistaking Dream & Reality and the Deceptive Ambiguity in Simulacra ....... 30 V. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 36. ‧. Chapter Three: Dreaming in Society ........................................................................... 37 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 37. II.. The Simulacra-constructed Social Order and Social Relations ....................... 45. er. io. sit. y. Nat. I.. III. The Social Order that “Baptizes” Us ............................................................... 53. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. IV. The Abatement of Individuality ....................................................................... 61. engchi. V. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 67 Chapter Four: Dreaming in a Utopian/Dystopian Dreamscape ................................... 71 I.. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 71. II.. A Fairer Paradise in Doubt: Utopian or Dystopian? ........................................ 78. III. A Particular Slant on the “Light”: Signs of Meanings in Vagueness .............. 89 IV. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 96 Chapter Five: Conclusion ............................................................................................ 99 Works Cited ............................................................................................................... 105. viii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(9) Chapter One Introduction. This thesis proposes to pursue a rather postmodernist landscape of Emily Dickinson’s concept of dream in several of her poems in light of Jean Baudrillard’s ideas of simulation and simulacra. Among studies of Emily Dickinson’s writings,. 政治大. including her letters and poetry, the subject of dreams has been attracting academic. 立. attention from Dickinson scholars. As Brian F. McCabe suggests in his introductory. ‧ 國. 學. section “Dreams,” collected in All Things Dickinson: An Encyclopedia of Emily. ‧. Dickinson’s World, “dreams were more than a passing subject in Dickinson’s mind”. Nat. io. sit. y. (277). McCabe’s comment here not only reveals great significance of the dream. er. subject for reading Emily Dickinson’s writings but also suggests excellent potential. al. n. v i n Cbody for exploration of a complete conception of dreams. In this h eofnagDickinsonian chi U. regard, anatomies of Dickinsonian dreams abound, and numerous critical essays aim to shed light on the poet’s consideration of dreams from various perspectives. Dickinson critics such as Páraic Finnerty, Catherine A. Bernard, John S. Mann, to name a few, take pains to explore the nineteenth-century dream theories (McCabe 277). Páraic Finnerty, for example, offers a compelling exploration of dreams in Dickinson’s period of time which emphasizes the prophetic implications of. 1. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(10) dream imagery (McCabe 277-78). Perhaps, the scrutiny of dream theories of Dickinson’s contemporaries promises us a better understanding of the ways the poet considers the conception of dreams in her dream poems. Yet, for readers in the twenty-first century, the historical and cultural foci of earlier study seem to reveal restricted comprehension of Dickinsonian dreams by putting too much emphasis on the role of the poet, whose biographical background seems to be under scrutiny too. 政治大. heavily to disclose more possible readings of Dickinson’s dream poems.. 立. A more text-centred concern from modern examinations of dreams is. ‧ 國. 學. primarily derived from psychological readings of Sigmund Freud and Karl Jung “in. ‧. which dream imagery has certain, specific meaning connected to the waking world,. Nat. io. sit. y. generally through the dreamer’s subconscious” (McCabe 277). Indeed, this way of. er. looking at dreams might present sophisticated interpretations of dreams for readers. al. n. v i n who are fascinated with the multipleCmeanings U It also helps delve h e n gofcdream h i imagery. into a dreamer’s mind for an outright body of knowledge of dreams. Nonetheless, this psychological perspective of the dream study is heavily confined to the mental activities of a dreamer during sleep. In the postmodernist period, we might have different comprehensions of the idea of dreams. Taking a closer look at the meanings of the term “dream,” we can witness a wide diversity of definitions which invite many critically intriguing examinations of the term.. 2. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(11) Thus, with regard to definitions of the term “dream” to which former critical readings might pay less attention, I would like to propose a reading of Dickinson’s dream imagery which entails a postmodernist reader-centred perspective. To resolve questions left by previous studies, I also intend to explore in her poetry the poet’s delicate concerns over human society which might promise a better comprehensive understanding of Emily Dickinson’s poems.. I. Literature Review. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Concerning its analytical scope, this thesis focuses on three main fields of. ‧. critical reception on Emily Dickinson’s poetry: essays about her concept of dreams;. sit. y. Nat. about her attitude towards society; and about her perspective on paradise/heaven. The. n. al. er. io. problem of dream in Dickinson’s writing, for sure, is a top priority that is taken into. Ch. i n U. v. account. Dickinson’s literary treatment of dreams, among others, is always a. engchi. provoking topic that intrigues and, perhaps sometimes, also bothers a great majority of earnest readers. Just like many of her other topics, this curious dream-issue indeed not only offers fuel for igniting numerous critical passions but also challenges an attempt of theme search dauntingly with interpretive vagueness. As David Porter suggests, it is enigma in Dickinson’s texts that immerses many readers, and readers, while encountering the poems for locating a certain theme, are often overwhelmingly. 3. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(12) captured by enormous unexplainable and unmanageable mysteries through their textual absorption (196). Roland Hagenbüchle in his “Dickinson and Literary Theory” in The Emily Dickinson Handbook also recognises indefiniteness and indeterminacy in the poet’s writing. Yet, though positing the richness and also teasingly uncertainty of meanings, Hagenbüchle, by contrast, regards it rather positively as where “a sense of humility, admiration, and wonder” thrives in Dickinson’s poems (382). With the. 政治大. critical voices, there seems also inevitable indeterminacy which prevails within her. 立. designation of dream imagery and which must complicate a reading of dream.. ‧ 國. 學. With respect to current trends in the studies of Dickinson, particularly in terms. ‧. of the dream subject, a promising discovery of theories about dreaming might be. Nat. io. sit. y. found in Páraic Finnerty’s compelling article, “A Dickinson Reverie: The Worm, the. er. Snake, Marvel, and Nineteenth-century Dreaming.” Finnerty focuses on the notions of. al. n. v i n C hcentury and unfoldsUan emphasis on the dreaming proliferated in the nineteenth engchi. prophetic nature of dreams. The divination of the future relies on the compulsion to narrate the visions of a dreamer during sleep. As “a form of demonic possession,” as Finnerty writes, in literary works a dreamer’s dream seems typically able to trap and posit its dreamer in a compulsive circumstance that he/she becomes “compelled to describe rather than understand the unfathomable phenomena encountered there” (96). The dreamer, in this respect, appears to be considered a prophet-like character. This. 4. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(13) mythical characteristic of the dreamer as a prophet is examined by the nineteenthcentury dream theorists such as John Bonner and James J. Belcher, both of whom pinpoint supernatural experiences brought from dreams of prophecy. According to Finnerty, Bonner outlines the popular idea that “the dreaming mind moved beyond the physical world and its body and communicated with the metaphysical universe, thereby receiving ominous messages of warning or ethical instruction, thereby gaining. 政治大. foresight into future events” (97). As Finnerty further summarizes, Belcher locates. 立. more active abilities of a dreamer to recognize “preternatural warnings regarding. ‧ 國. 學. coming disasters” and change future events (97). In this way of looking at dreams, it. ‧. is clear that dreams are treated not only as supernatural access to the metaphysical. Nat. io. sit. y. world with which a prophet-dreamer is able to communicate. Dreams also reveal. er. protective significance of warning, thereby avoiding destructive disasters.. al. n. v i n C hFinnerty tries to locate Through his exploration, e n g c h i U Dickinson’s poetic. engagement with the theoretical conventions about dreams and dreaming in the nineteenth century. As he observes, “Dickinson’s dream poems in general emphasize the prudent activity of dreaming as preferable to corporeal experience” (108). The world of dream, for Dickinson, seems more preferable, compared with normal everyday life. John S. Mann similarly argues that, “in the universe of her poems, dreams are the obverse of reality, which paradoxically deepen her understanding of it”. 5. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(14) (qtd. in Finnerty 108). It would seem that Dickinson’s dream poetry actually exhibits her deep concern about reality which is arguably viewed as the opposite of dream. Another field of critical reception concerns Emily Dickinson’s view on the social. Though Dickinson is widely recognised as a poet who secludes herself away from society, a vast body of her poems is in fact involved with a certain keen sensitivity and profundity that critiques and questions the stroke of society. Many. 政治大. critics also observe such a critical awareness implicit in her poems and tend to explore. 立. the magnitude of it. Kenneth Stocks, Audrey Curtis, and Christopher Benfey, for. ‧ 國. 學. instance, offer an exhaustive explanation of how the poet stands as socially devoted. ‧. and with her poems textually performs as actively voiced. Of most significance, with. Nat. io. sit. y. these critics, many of Dickinson’s poems are in fact imperatively unfolded not only as. er. imbued with doubts against the social, but also as evidences of a quest for a certain. al. n. v i n C hStocks similarly claim, degree of individualism. As Curtis and e n g c h i U Emily Dickinson is a poet who takes pains to displace in her poems a distrust of what seems generally correct and normal from the side of a majority (Stocks 86; Curtis 784-6), and in Benfey’s reading, a sense of uncertainty on the social is even intensified, as several of her poems investigate the expressiveness of human beings and the presence of others (1-8). Here, throughout these essays that contribute to Dickinson’s social insight, it. 6. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(15) is seen that critics mostly position the poet in a certain dual relation between herself and others. As Rachel Nicole Tie suggests in her discussion on the question of normality and abnormality, the “eccentricity” of the poet is apparently opposed to what a society conceptually accepts as general and normal (641). This social separation between the poet and society, as Jaji Crocker Hammer sees, even disassociates her from conventional customs that advocate social involvement and put. 政治大. into practice a certain degree of disconnection sensible in much of her poetry (216).. 立. Indeed, it is recognised that in Dickinson’s poetry, oppositions, the binary ones in. ‧ 國. 學. particular, are fairly of much significance, and in many ways they hardly can be. ‧. belittled.. Nat. io. sit. y. Lastly, the thesis considers Dickinson’s images of paradise/heaven highlighted. er. by several critical essays. Throughout the oeuvre of Emily Dickinson, the topic of. al. n. v i n C h visible, and U paradise/heaven is indeed dominantly e n g c h i many critics tend to shed careful light on the importance of this distinctive concept around her poems. Robert Weisbuch, for instance, in his reading of the poem “I dwell in Possibility” (J 657), bestows upon the image of “paradise” the metaphorical testament of “possibilities” which a poet can strive to “gather” from his/her realm of poetry. (197). Judith Farr in her chapter “Gardening in Eden” of her book The Gardens of Emily Dickinson suggests the glorification of “Paradise” in the plain of “Garden of Eden” and. 7. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(16) identifies Emily Dickinson as a “new Eve” who should reside in “Paradise” (74). Magdalena Zapedowska and Barton Levi St. Armand, in addition, also critically associate the images of “paradise” and “heaven” with the image of home. They not only present the dwelling of joy and ecstasy (Zapedowska 86-88), but also unfold a certain domestic, private domain which combats and supersedes any other socially dominant dogmas in order to claim her personal individuality (St. Armand 129, 131,. 政治大. 136). In Brian F. McCabe’s reading, this dimension of individuality that the. 立. “paradise/heaven” can indicate in ways also displays her withdrawal from any. ‧ 國. 學. orthodoxy (439). With these readings of paradise/heaven, it is seen that, for Dickinson. ‧. critics and readers, what often constitutes a paradise and heaven is usually tokens of. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. of personal satisfaction.. y. certain idealism, which to some extent is pregnant with blissful thinking and even bits. II. Problems. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. With these critical readings hovering around different topics about Emily Dickinson, it is seen that the poet’s oeuvre indeed contains excellent potential for various interpretations. Through the search of the contributory studies on Dickinsonian dreams, we witness a variety of the nineteenth century theories about dreams to which Dickinson’s dream poems are ascribed. Yet, in terms of textual. 8. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(17) analyses, these discoveries seem to confine possible discoveries of poetic meanings for the emphasis on the role of the poet. Some issues located in the poetry might need to be explored more comprehensively. For example, the question of reality, from Mann’s argument, seems to deserve further examination, since it involves the poet’s keen consideration of the world. However, among the critical essays of Dickinson’s dream poetry, we seem to observe less analyses of the poet’s perception of the world.. 政治大. Another further problem less discovered is the poet’s consideration of human society.. 立. If Dickinson’s dream poems unfold her deep apprehension of the world, it is also. ‧ 國. 學. worthy of analysis how the poet relates the poetics of her poetry including the dream. ‧. poems to her critical awareness of human society which entails social orders and the. Nat. io. sit. y. self’s encounter with the Other. Even though in several readings of the poet’s social. er. insights readers can access her awareness of human society, it seems still an enigma. al. n. v i n whether there is another wayCofhthinking of her social e n g c h i U critique out of the enclosure of the dual conflicts. It is also a mystery what aspects of society her poetry is genuinely aimed at. Another intriguing problem less noticed in the majority of criticism on Dickinson dream poems is the definition of the term “dream.” Among the anatomies of Dickinson poems, the subject of dreams seems to remain still located in a cycle of the single minded pursuit of meaning. Yet, the semantic diversity of the term “dream”. 9. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(18) offers plenty of scope for analysis. As Oxford English Dictionary (OED)1 briefly defines, the term “dream” can suggest “a vision or hope for the future,” “a vain hope or idle fantasy,” and “an ideal” (“Dream,” OED). Here, interestingly, as opposed to the definition of mental activity during sleep, the term “dream” bears at least another equally dominant entry for potential explorations: the connotation of “an ideal.” The semantic association of dreams with the idea of “an ideal” seems to ignite possibilities for wider comprehensions.. 立. 政治大. More riveting might be the definition of “a vain hope or idle fantasy.” This. ‧ 國. 學. associated meaning seems to imply an uncertainty on a positivity of the so-called. ‧. “hope for the future” (“Dream,” OED). The conflicting aspect seemingly also. Nat. io. sit. y. suggests the deceptiveness of “an ideal” when the term “dream” denotes “a false idea. er. or belief,” “an illusion, a delusion,” and “a sham” (“Dream,” OED). If the term. al. n. v i n “dream” connotes a perspective on C “anhideal” (“Dream,” OED), e n g c h i U positive or. ambiguous, Dickinson’s dream imagery, to some extent, should also be able to be examined in the same aspect. Emily Dickinson Lexicon (EDL)2 might also offer plausible considerations of the connotations of Dickinson’s term “dream.” As noted in Emily Dickinson Lexicon (EDL), the term “dream” is associated with “fantasy” and “utopian vision of 1. In this thesis, Oxford English Dictionary is abbreviated to OED, as seen in the brackets here.. 2. In this thesis, Emily Dickinson Lexicon is also abbreviated to EDL, as seen in the brackets here.. 10. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(19) perfection” (“Dream,” EDL). Both definitions confirm the reasonability of the idealmatter aspect. In this respect, the critical attention can plausibly be a different way of reading Dickinsonian dreams with the associated idea of “an ideal” (“Dream,” OED). In this regard, I intend to explore how Dickinson suggests the pursuit of ideals and the deceptive nature of ideals. With the anatomy of dreams and ideals, I also aim to locate how the poet relates her poetry including the dream poems to her awareness of human society.. 立. 政治大. III. Methodology. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. To elucidate the problems which seem less explored, my reading is based on a. sit. y. Nat. postmodernist perspective. For most readers of Dickinson, it is odd to associate. n. al. er. io. Dickinson with postmodernism. Yet, Jed Deppman, in his Trying to Think with Emily. Ch. i n U. v. Dickinson, finds the philosophical compatibility of Dickinson with modernist and. engchi. postmodernist thought. Deppman discovers that “Dickinson’s oeuvre is interpretable as an early, intense response to the fragmenting epistemological conditions Lyotard identified in The Postmodern Condition as attending the weakening of authoritative Western narratives of history, God, nature, the self” (7). Moreover, hopefully explored further is the intertextuality of reading between Dickinson’s poetry and certain strains of postmodernist theory, as Jed Deppman pinpoints that “certain strains. 11. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(20) in postmodern thought can help make visible central aspects of her poetry, and her poetry has the power to illuminate and respond to contemporary situations” (8). Deppman seems to crystallize an intertextual connection with the nineteenth century poet and postmodernist thought. Deppman’s discovery of a “postmodern” Dickinson seems to unfold the brilliant possibilities of reading Dickinson in a diversity of theories. In this respect,. 政治大. among postmodernist theories, a Baudrillardian reading of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. 立. seems plausible. The compelling book Simulacra and Simulation, by the thinker Jean. ‧ 國. 學. Baudrillard, might promise a sophisticated theoretical examination of the issues from. ‧. these preliminary problems. Jean Baudrillard reveals the arrival of “the generation by. Nat. io. sit. y. models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal” (1), in which the omnipresent. er. precedence of simulacra achieves its dominance over the real through simulation.. al. n. v i n C h of simulacra,Ufor the simulacrum “never Baudrillard sees in simulation the supremacy engchi hides the truth” but “is truth that hides the fact that there is none” (1). The throne of the real seems to be taken over by simulacra, which brings about the hyperreal. Baudrillard ascribes the absence of the real to the presence of simulacra, which indicate “a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real” (2). This question of the sign substitution, for Baudrillard, seems to surpass that of imitation, duplication, or parody, for its challenging quality over the relationship between the. 12. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(21) real and the imaginary. Of the greatest importance, concerning the replacement of the signs, is the fundamental operation of simulation in which Baudrillard distinguishes simulation from other models of copying. Apart from the endangering of the real, Baudrillard witnesses in simulation an ultimate threat to the distinction between the real and the imaginary. As Baudrillard contends, “dissimulating leaves the principle of reality. 政治大. intact: the difference is always clear, it is simply masked, whereas simulation. 立. threatens the difference between the ‘true’ and the ‘false’, the ‘real’ and the. ‧ 國. 學. ‘imaginary’” (3). In fact, the difference in treatments of the real-imaginary distinction. ‧. in different models of copying entails a further question of absence and presence.. Nat. io. sit. y. While dissimulating preserves the intact presence of both the “real” and the. er. “imaginary,” simulation, however, makes ambiguous the presence and absence of the. al. n. v i n C hbetween the presence two extremes. Clear distinctions e n g c h i U and absence of the “real” and the “imaginary” might be accordingly threatened to efface. If simulation manifests a discourse that the “real” and the “imaginary” are. ambiguous, then the simulacra seem to serve as the agency of the ambiguity in which meanings are no longer trustworthy. For meanings lose reliability and credits, a certain degree of deceptiveness can be discernible in simulacra. Since simulacra are pregnant with the deceptive nature of the signifier, it is plausible to examine the. 13. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(22) image of dreams which is construed as ideals in terms of simulacra and simulation. A similar deceptiveness of ideals is also discovered from the ambiguity explored in both denotations of “a vain hope” (“Dream,” OED) and “fantasy” (“Dream,” EDL). Here, with Baudrillard’s theoretical focus on the supremacy of simulacra and the ambiguity in meaning, the connection between Emily Dickinson and this postmodernist thinker seems to be thus clear. Both of them actually share certain. 政治大. similarities in their concern about the prevalence of signs and intensively invite their. 立. readers to interrogate the equivocality of meaning. While Baudrillard in his ideas of. ‧ 國. 學. simulacra and simulation exhibits the concern about the domination of signs over. ‧. human society,3 Emily Dickinson actually in her poems also similarly presents a vast. Nat. io. sit. y. number of signs that are collected around everyday life. In some way her poems also. er. allow readers to observe and consider the power of these signs over an individual. The. al. n. v i n Cdreaming poem “We dream – it is good we are h e n g–”c(Jh531), i Ufor example, indeed not. only displays a range of signs, such as “Age,” “Name,” and “a phrase in Egyptian,” and so forth, but also with these signs in fact clearly provokes questions, e.g., as to. 3. It is widely known that Baudrillard considers a sign-dominated society. Douglass Kellner and William Pawlett both recognise such a concern in the writings of this postmodernist thinker. Kellner notes that Baudrillard’s theory is of “how simulacra came to dominate social life” (78). Pawlett in his chapter “Simulation and the End of the Social,” in his book Jean Baudrillard: Against Banality also summarises that for Baudrillard “there are signs that enable the accumulation of meaning and knowledge and there are ‘pure’ signs that enchant and seduce, signs that reverse, destabilise and annihilate meaning” (71).. 14. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(23) how signs, in substitution of what is desired, can actualise one’s dream. Importantly, the question of the actualisation of one’s dream in the logic of signs, as seen here, seems just to give way to a deep Baudrillardian inspection. Not only is the issue of sign-substitution clearly involved, but, at the point, the consideration of the prevalence of some semiotic materials is also allowed for.4 In this regard, a Baudrillardian consideration that aims at the problem of hyper-reality seems able to. 政治大. offer a promising lens of viewing the questions of signs in Dickinson’s texts.. 立 IV. Chapter Organization. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. The thesis explores with a postmodernist perspective the subject of dreams in. sit. y. Nat. three main aspects: the notion of dreams defined as ideals and deception, social. n. al. er. io. relationships within human society, and the utopian/dystopian dreamscape. The. Ch. i n U. v. following length of anatomy will be divided into four chapters. A reading of the. engchi. notion of dreams construed as ideals and deception opens the next chapter, in which three dream poems of Emily Dickinson will be intensely examined: “We dream – it is good we are dreaming –,” “Dreams are the subtle Dower,” and “Doom is the House. 4. Here, apart from the symbolic, I tend to take “the semiotic” as the main term throughout my discussion of Baudrillard’s ideas. My tendency for identifying “the semiotic” derives not only from the fact that sign is actually the focus Baudrillard mostly draws in his Simulacra and Simulation, but also from my consonance with Gary Genosko, who notes in his review of Baudrillard’s writing that “the symbolic has passed into the semiotic” (xx).. 15. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(24) without Door.” With these dream poems examined, I explore an important concern about the pursuit of ideals in Dickinson’s dreams imagery. Dream in the sense is nothing but just an equivalent of fantasy which only practises and actualises desire. As dreams are associated with the idea of “ideals,” an awareness of pursuing ideals is also read. In this aspect, dream and fantasy of desiring for the ideal are examined as models of simulacra which involve the question of presence and absence.. 政治大. Furthermore, since the question of presence and absence is explored, certainly the. 立. deceptiveness of dreams and fantasies revealed as “a vain hope,” “an illusion,” and “a. ‧ 國. 學. delusion” can be best evidenced in the perspective on simulation and simulacra. Most. ‧. importantly, a particular consideration of the conflicting relationship between e.g., the. Nat. io. sit. y. real and the non-real, the deceiving and the deceived, etc., is also read. Since the. er. obvious menace of simulation and simulacra reveals the possible collapse of the truth,. al. n. v i n C h are definitely concerned the conflicts between binary oppositions e n g c h i U in the arena of simulacra.. Succeeding the examination of the dream-ideal imagery, in the consideration of simulacra in which the dichotomy of reason and madness is explored, a deeper concern about human society precedes the coming Chapter Three. In this chapter, another three poems are mainly discussed: “I started Early – Took my Dog –,” “Much Madness is divinest Sense –,” and “Civilization – spurns – the Leopard.” With these. 16. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(25) poems concerning social relationship within human society, the poet’s concerns over the pursuit of ideals are located in the social aspect in which a critique of human society is developed in the poems. In this respect, the problems concerning the relationship of the self with human society will be mainly discovered, especially for the construction of human society is driven by not only the desire of pursuing the ideal but the sign (simulacra) that may fulfil the desire. A most essential concern. 政治大. about the construction of human society lies in the sign-constructed social order in. 立. human society, in that social order always dominates not only social relations but also. ‧ 國. 學. the entirety of society. Yet, intriguingly, in the era of simulation, social order seems to. ‧. be often called into question. The authority of social order seems to be threatened by. Nat. io. sit. y. the ambiguity of simulacra. Social orders appear to be under re-examination, since. er. simulacra obscure the presence and absence of the signified. Simulacra present the. al. n. v i n pure play of signs. Perhaps, C examined this pure play of signs, social orders h e nunder gchi U. might ultimately be perceived as the sheer accumulation of simulacra, another model of precedence of the real without reality. Following the observation of social order and signs, the position of the self of an individual in this simulacra-constructed society seems to be worthy of examination. A sophisticated anatomy of social relationship of the self within human society is therefore intriguingly performed in several aspects: the problem of an. 17. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(26) encounter with the Other, the conflicts between the self and the Other, and, most crucially, the universal existential problem of an individual. The encounter with the Other is not merely an inevitable phenomenon for an individual in society. In fact, it always establishes the tensions among individuals who conflict with each other for different desires of their own. Since, in society, the inevitable encounter with the Other determines the. 政治大. incessant conflicts of desire among individuals, the problem of the conflicts between. 立. the self and the Other requires equal consideration. The problem of the conflicts. ‧ 國. 學. entails the intensive contrast between the encoding and decoding of individuals. The. ‧. intensity between encoding and decoding sacrifices an individual for any supposed. Nat. io. sit. y. authority of signs of the ideal, and devours them for the good of society. The. er. intactness of individuality is therefore called into question, in terms of the. al. n. v i n C haccumulate. In theUrespect, the existential construction of society where simulacra engchi problem of human beings in general follows. It becomes pivotal to consider the existential situations of individuals, in the face of the accumulation of simulacra which ultimately culminates in the utopian/dystopian dreamscape. Yet, it is still called into question that the dreamscape is utopian. Since simulacra obscure the ambiguity between the real and the imaginary, the dreamscape might be constructed mistakenly as the dystopian one. Chapter Four, extending the. 18. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(27) discussion of the existential problem of human beings in general, proceeds to investigate the discourse of utopia/dystopia, in which the three poems of Emily Dickinson are explored: “‘Heaven’ has different Signs – to me –,” “There’s a certain Slant of light,” and “Within that little Hive.” With a sophisticated examination of Dickinson’s poems, a consideration of utopian/dystopian manifestation is focused. Since the construction of the dreamscape is determined by the dream/fantasy of the. 政治大. ideals in the accumulation of simulacra which features the ambiguity between true. 立. and false, the dreamscape therefore entails a quality of vagueness. It also serves as a. ‧ 國. 學. manifestation of the hyperreal in which the supremacy of the so-called. ‧. “paradise/heaven” is challenged by simulacra and simulation. Both ideas “paradise”. Nat. io. sit. y. and “heaven,” posited in the utopian/dystopian dreamscape, might be construed as the. er. pure names in the scope of dreams in which vain hopes or idle fantasies dominate.. al. n. v i n C h of the utopian/dystopian Through the consideration dreamscape, then follows engchi U. a question of meaning, which seems to manifest itself as another hint of vagueness and equivocality in Dickinson’s consideration of a “certain Slant of light.” In the utopian/dystopian aspect of simulation and simulacra, it is always questioned whether meaning is always absolute and determined with any signs of fixation within the mazy dreamscape. However, meaning seems always (dis)placed in a spectrum of multiplicity and diversity, and a certain degree of fluidity comes to dominate. In this. 19. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(28) manner, here comes again a similar question of simulacra and simulation. The ultimate can be, in the utopian/dystopian dreamscape, the lack of distinction and confusion between the real and the imaginary, as Dickinson writes, “As made Reality a Dream / And Dreams, Reality –.” The last chapter, Chapter Five, concludes the anatomy of Dickinson’s poems with an overall review of the findings of each chapter. I try to display the possible. 政治大. significances of a Baudrillardian reading of Dickinson. Potentials for further. 立. extension and exploration will be also elucidated with regard to comprehensive. ‧ 國. 學. understanding of Emily Dickinson’s poems.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 20. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(29) Chapter Two Dream with Simulacra. I. Introduction. Like her other poems of different subjects, Emily Dickinson’s dream poems have always been impressing her loyal readers with an overwhelming multiplicity of possible interpretations. Among others, the most attractive and interesting can be the. 政治大 poem J 531 “We dream – it is good we are dreaming –” (McCabe 279). As Brian 立. ‧ 國. 學. McCabe suggests, the poem interestingly proposes a certain optimistic perspective. ‧. that the act of dreaming is seen theorized as playful and healthy (279). Consistent. sit. y. Nat. with the positive aspect of dream and dreaming, McCabe defines the concluding line. n. al. er. io. “It’s prudenter – to dream –” as suggesting a certain comparative goodness of the. Ch. i n U. v. decision “to dream” and, in some ways, idealizing the imagery of dream as a certain. engchi. form of shelter from the waking world (279). McCabe’s interpretation here may suffice for any Dickinson reader to tell the poet’s sensitive awareness of the dream-reality contrast. However, with a careful thinking about the interpretive diversity of the poem, the poem in fact can challenge the analytic optimism of the shelter association with considerably more interpretive problems ignited by the word “prudenter.”. 21. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(30) Concerning its associated meanings, the word “prudent(er)” seems to import a great semantical duality, leading to a more extreme ambiguity of comprehension. As the Emily Dickinson Lexicon tells, this dubious word, while indicating a conceptual association with wisdom, also involves a prime sense of caution (“prudent” EDL). The wisdom-caution duality seen from the denotations of the word, in this sense, complicates the concluding line “It’s prudenter – to dream –” with a certain. 政治大. interpretive complexity. On one hand, a reader may recognise the decision “to dream”. 立. as a “prudenter” and wiser means of avoiding the waking world. A “prudenter”. ‧ 國. 學. decision “to dream,” on the other hand, can however implicate a certain subtle and. ‧. nuanced situation of caution that, apart from resting on to be awake, a decision-maker. Nat. io. sit. y. has “to dream” even more carefully.. er. In this regard, awkwardly but interestingly, the concluding line seems to assert. al. n. v i n C h perspective onUdream and dreaming. If “to a less simple-minded but more complicated engchi dream” indicates a circumstance which might involve a more cautious state of mind, then to some extent, dream can hardly be seen as a shelter. An ominous aspect of dream is thus presented as that which is saturated with threat and fear. A question also precedes as to whether dream and dreaming suggest goodness or not. In this respect, the perspective of the poet on dream and dreaming might perceivably become an elusive problem for the whole edifice of the poem.. 22. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(31) The elusiveness of the poem, therefore, may require readers to re-define the signification of dream and dreaming. It raises critical questions such as on what ground and in what manner dream and dreaming insinuate an undecidability between positivity and negativity. The undecidability of dream and dreaming seems also to make vague and call into question the distinctive edge between dream and reality. To elucidate these preliminary questions about dream and dreaming, it seems particularly. 政治大. helpful to associate Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra and simulation, which. 立. shares a thoughtful insight into the complexity of the simulacrum and its notorious. ‧ 國. 學. play on differentiation of the imaginary and the alleged “reality.” With the work of. ‧. Baudrillard’s concept of such matter, I intend to define Emily Dickinson’s dream as. Nat. io. sit. y. fantasy about pursuing the ideal, mainly focusing on the problem of signs which. er. precede what is desired and the problem of hyper-reality signs formulate. I would also. al. n. v i n like to reveal in this chapterC thaththe exemplary dream e n g c h i U poems of Emily Dickinson,. pregnant with the philosophical investigation of the simulacrum of ideals, not only shed a profound light on the distinctive uncertainty of the dream image but also give incredible insight into its sheer deceptiveness in a nuanced sense.. II. Warning against Dream and Dreaming. 23. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(32) As seen earlier, the interpretively difficult dream poem “We dream – it is good we are dreaming –” is more surprisingly penetrated by an apparent tone of warning in its entirety. The dominant sense of warning seems traceable in the very beginning of the poem, in which the first two stanzas address a sensitive awareness of, as Helen Vendler suggests, “the intent to kill” (263) and, too, of the dubious playfulness of “the ghastly game being played in dream” (261). Vendler explores the warning signs. 政治大. sparkled in this poem. The sensitive awareness observed here not only clarifies the. 立. critical attention of warning which targets the playful but dangerous game of killing in. ‧ 國. 學. dream, but also crystallizes, to some extent, the perilous aspect of dreaming which in. ‧. fact can derive from the playfulness of the game-like practice of killing.. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. stanzas:. y. Noticeably, an attitude of sarcasm and scepticism is seen in the first two. Ch. engchi. We dream – it is good we are dreaming –. i n U. v. It would hurt us – were we awake – But since it is playing – kill us, And we are playing – shriek –. What harm? Men die – Externally – It is a truth – of Blood –. 24. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(33) But we – are dying in Drama – And Drama – is never dead – The playfulness, for instance, which arguably attaches to a game of fright, is interwoven with the obvious intent to hurt and kill. Just insomuch as the poem describes “it is playing – kill us / And we are playing – shriek –,” this sense of playfulness serves to victimize whoever indulges in dream. With a sense of dramatic. 政治大. embodiment, an experience of death perceived here seems to be neutralized rather as a. 立. certain on-stage performance in which the dream-victimized “we,” though escaping. ‧ 國. 學. from its doom determined “Externally” in reality by “a truth – of Blood –,” becomes. ‧. compelled to perform in the plot-like situation of being “dying in Drama.” As regards. Nat. io. sit. y. the staged scheme of victimization, the benign sense of dreaming, which accords with. er. the assertion that “it is good we are dreaming –,” attracts critical attention of great. al. n. v i n scepticism. The assertion ofC positive with this respect, become regarded as h e ndreaming, gchi U but a conditional occurrence. The “It” which “would hurt us – were we awake –,” seems to refer more preferably to the fact itself that “we are dreaming –,” instead of reality. Noticeably, the signal of warning is intensified when the poem proceeds to the last two stanzas which pattern a troop of words of notice such as “Cautious,” “Lest,” and, again, “prudenter”:. 25. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(34) Cautious – We jar each other – And either – open the eyes – Lest the Phantasm – prove the Mistake – And the livid Surprise. Cool us to Shafts of Granite –. 政治大. With just an Age – and Name –. 立. And perhaps a phrase in Egyptian –. ‧ 國. 學. It’s prudenter – to dream –. ‧. These words of notice here magnify the potential ominous outcome of the ghastly. Nat. io. sit. y. game. The “We,” which is victimised by the act of dreaming, must seek for a means. er. of prevention and self-preservation. Of great significance, the mechanism of defence. al. n. v i n Ctheh Phantasm – proveUthe Mistake,” seems here, followed by the reminder “Lest engchi. helpfully to ignite a critical attention of certain apprehension, while the end-scene of the game is portrayed as climaxing with an eager search for any “Mistake” which concerns the dramatic tension of duality between the cautious “We” and the aggressive “Phantasm.”5 Just as the last two stanzas contrive to elaborate, the. 5. Vendler’s association, it seems that, serves to help with a deeper vision about the presence of the “Phantasm.” Arguably, it seems discernible that the dramatic tension of duality may actually serve as just a pivotal aim of the warning signs, insofar as one may witness in between, as Vendler. 26. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(35) “Phantasm” here seems not only embodied as the supreme executor of death which serves to terminate the game in dream, but also, more significantly, perceived as lurking as a fierce predator of preying upon the occurrence of a possible careless “Mistake.” The analogy of the predator-prey rivalry, to some extent, seems to amplify the dramatized embodiment of death. The wrongly behaved “We” meet with an. 政治大. unexpected strike of “Surprise” so livid that the death-experience may be sinisterly. 立. visualized. Arguably, not only is the plot-like entrapping of being “dying in Drama”. ‧ 國. 學. clarified in an emphatic sense, as foreshadowing a later cruel macabre potential in a. ‧. dynamic hunt game. An overwhelming picture of death-sentence also seems therefore. Nat. io. sit. y. manifested. The “Mistake” confirmed by “the Phantasm,” as the poem resolves,. er. determines an utmost consequence of fixation which compels to “Cool us to Shafts of. al. n. v i n Granite – / With just an AgeC – and U a phrase in Egyptian –.” h eName n g –c/ hAndi perhaps. Arguably, the last scene of the poem impressively presents a final judgement. This judgment is also a consequence that derives from dreaming. It is a predicament that dreaming in fact brings massive signs of what is desired and dangerously fix anyone who dreams. “Age,” “Name,” “a phrase in Egyptian” in fact are something that a dreamer can dream of, in a way, indicating certain form of desire, prosperity, or. interestingly comes to inspire, a fierce rivalry of a deadly hunt between a predator and its desperately hounded prey (262).. 27. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(36) success. Yet, to some extent, they are actually only signs. They are signs that not only precede what is desired but also, riskily, lead to a certain misery of dreamers.. III. Dreaming about the Ideal. The intense landscape of death-scenes explored above clarifies the menacing sense of dreaming which accentuates the intent to kill in a ghastly game of hunt. It is especially discerned that the “Phantasm” demonstrates a certain degree of aggression. 政治大 and aims its focus of attack at the mistakenly behaved “We.” However, the aggressive 立. ‧ 國. 學. attack of the “Phantasm” driven by the disclosure of the “Mistake,” for some curious. ‧. readers, cannot so much suffice to resolve the interpretive possibility of the poem.. sit. y. Nat. Rather, critical attention can lie in a further consideration of what the so-called dream. n. al. er. io. may possibly signify. Furthermore, another point worthy of further exploration can. Ch. i n U. v. also occur with an extensive question of what “Mistake” can significantly imply and. engchi. associate. These questions can acquire great significance for more in-depth consideration of the dream subject. With the advent of these newly inspired questions, perhaps McCabe has already reminded us of some access to what the dream may signify when he thematically locates the crucial facets of dream in Dickinson’s poems: “the indistinct, the distant, and often the unreachable in any earthly sense” (279). Indeed, if one. 28. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(37) associates a dream which occurs in sleep, the three facets of the Dickinsonian dream pinpointed here, to some extent, seems to signal distinctively the properties of a sleeping dream in which mental images are manifested elusive and opaque. However, the association of a sleeping dream seems to paralyze readers with a riddle of how a sleeping dream displays a dangerous game of hunt played with the “Phantasm” searching “Mistake.” What remains unsolvable is the mystery of what “Mistake”. 政治大. would be made. In this sense, the association of the Dickinsonian dream with a. 立. concerning the menacing sense of dreaming.. 學. ‧ 國. sleeping dream does not suffice to be regarded as a promising answer to the questions. ‧. Perhaps, a close look at the definition of the word “dream” can be a helpful. Nat. io. sit. y. stimulus for the conceptual consideration of the dream subject. Of greatest. er. significance, there indeed stands an alternative cluster of the associated meanings of. al. n. v i n the word “dream.” While theCword h e“dream” h i U “a series of images … n g c associates. generated by mental activity during sleep,” as the Oxford English Dictionary reminds, this word in fact also alternatively denotes noun-wise as “an ideal,” “a vain hope or idle fantasy” and verb-wise as “to imagine and envisage as if in a dream” (“Dream,” OED). Interestingly, the denotations of an ideal and a fantasy explored in the word “dream” here arguably emphasise the elusive nature of the Dickinsonian dream. An ideal and a fantasy, likewise, are often represented as being indistinct, distant, and. 29. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(38) unreachable in an earthly sense. In this sense, it is clear that the so-called dream in Dickinson’s poem can be actually associated as an ideal and a fantasy, or fantasy about desiring for the ideal.. IV. Mistaking Dream & Reality and the Deceptive Ambiguity in Simulacra. Indeed, the reading of the dream image of Dickinson as fantasy about desiring for the ideal clarifies the previously raised question about what the menacing dream. 政治大 and dreaming may signify. However, the subversive perspective on the hurtfulness of 立. ‧ 國. 學. the ideal seems arguably to impel readers to investigate further the mystery of how. ‧. dreaming the ideal manifests itself as being hurtful. It also provokes the previous. y. sit. n. al. er. io. dreamer.. Nat. suspicion of what possible “Mistake” would be involved for an ideal-fascinated. Ch. i n U. v. Perhaps, a promising access to the further investigation lies in the distinctive. engchi. presence of the “Phantasm,” whose aggressiveness of hunt is found saturated in the playfulness of the game in dream. In fact, the depiction of the playful game in dream where the “Phantasm” lurks, to some extent, seemingly comes to remind readers of Jean Baudrillard’s notable phrase “a play of illusions and phantasms” (12). He uses the phrase to describe the world of Disneyland exemplarily as “the perfect model of all the entangled orders of simulacra” (12). In this sense, the dream, which playfully. 30. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(39) schemes the fierce hunt of the “Phantasm,” may actually articulate a certain similarity with what Baudrillard diagnoses as the matrix of the orders of simulacra. The lurking “Phantasm,” in this regard, may, to some extent, manipulate the fundamental nature of simulacra. Interestingly, as regards this conceptual association with the phrase “a play of illusions and phantasms,” Baudrillard’s notion of simulacra and simulation sees the. 政治大. hurtful nature of fantasy about pursuing the ideal. Of greatest importance, in light of. 立. Baudrillard’s diagnosis, the ultimate threat actually lies in the simulacral truth that the. ‧ 國. 學. imaginary-reality division is concealed. As Baudrillard emphatically reveals in the. ‧. example of Disneyland,. Nat. io. sit. y. Disneyland exists in order to hide that it is the “real” country, all of. er. “real” America that is Disneyland … Disneyland is presented as. al. n. v i n imaginary in C order us believe that the rest is real, whereas all h eto nmake gchi U of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real … (12) Here, the order of simulation “threatens the difference between the ‘true’ and the ‘false’, the ‘real’ and the ‘imaginary’” (Baudrillard 3). The edge between the imaginary and reality has been distorted and re-situated by being arbitrarily displaced with a newly imported real-unreal division. In this manner, with simulation, a certain. 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(40) division between reality and fantasy in fact is remade and foster a certain reality to make one believe the realness of the “produced” reality. In this regard, the perception of reality, with the formulation of the concealing divide in between, is challenged and misconceived. The so-called reality in fact is just derive from nothing. Or, strikingly, it can just serve as a creation of the hyperreal, a state of reality that, with simulacra, becomes more real than the real.. 政治大. Arguably, the sensitive attention to the problem of reality may actually unfold. 立. a pivotal aspect of the reality-concealing operation of the hyperreal. As Baudrillard. ‧ 國. 學. explores, the ultimate pattern of concealing and believe-making altogether pertains to. ‧. “the hyperreal order” (12) which signals “no longer a question of a false. Nat. io. sit. y. representation of reality . . . but of concealing the fact that the real is no longer real”. er. (12). It is clarified that, the believe-making strategy of the order of simulation for. al. n. v i n Cinhfact masks the utmost distorting the imaginary-real division e n g c h i U detachment of reality from its referent. The masking culminates in the null existence of reality. 6 In this regard, the “reality,” has been rendered as only a sign of reality and has been superseded by the hyperreal.. 6. Alternatively, John Lechte reads a significance of an imaginary. He identifies “an imaginary governed by the entirely autonomous simulacrum” which imports “a sign or an image without a referent or a real object, a sign that cannot be exchanged for reality” (104).. 32. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(41) In this sense, this certain produced reality out of none can be deceptive and, with the distortion and the arbitrary division displacement, challenge the perception of reality in a bewildering manner. A dramatic state of the turmoil of the relation between the “real” and the “imaginary” can be seen in the difficulty in recognizing the camps of reality and the imaginary and ultimately culminates in an inescapable confusion in between.. 政治大. The anatomy of hyper-reality certainly unfolds a simulacral picture that. 立. involves the deceptive mannerism of concealing and believe-making. Perhaps,. ‧ 國. 學. another short piece of the dream poem “Dreams are the subtle Dower” (J 1376) has. ‧. already reminded readers of this distinctive mannerism of deception:. Nat. That make us rich an Hour –. n. al. Ch. Then fling us poor. engchi. er. io. sit. y. Dreams are the subtle Dower. i n U. v. Out of the purple Door Into the Precinct raw Possessed before – Here, with the creative association with the “Dower,” the deceptive mannerism of dream-fantasy is visualized in a financial sense. The conflict of the twist between being rich and poor is instantly but dramatically encountered. This sudden distortion. 33. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(42) in the state of possession, significantly, not only signifies the capriciousness of fantasy. It also confronts the victimized dreamer and unfolds the dreamer’s certain inability of perceiving and recognizing reality. Arguably, the deception of this fantasy can be witnessed in the misunderstanding of reality perception. The dream-fantasy, somehow, encourages the dreamer to make believe in a certain positive “richness” of his/her certain “reality.” Yet, in fact it conceals the emptiness of these dream-. 政治大. fantasies. The concealing of the emptiness in fantasy leads to a change to “poorness.”. 立. It is recognized that a certain “reality” of wealth is fabricated and made believe, with. ‧ 國. 學. the demonstration of the deceptive mannerism of dream.. ‧. Arguably, the second short piece of dream poem accentuates the duality. Nat. io. sit. y. between dream-fantasy and a dreamer. In this regard, the distinctive change in. n. al. er. intensification of the poetic tones here, somehow, can ignite an extensive association. Ch. engchi. of what ultimate consequence a dreamer can end in.. i n U. v. Another Dickinson dream-poem “Doom is the House without the Door –” (J 475) to some extent, explains the final end of a dreamer: Doom is the House without the Door – ’Tis entered from the Sun – And then the Ladder’s thrown away, Because Escape – is done –. 34. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(43) ‘Tis varied by the Dream Of what they do outside – Where Squirrels play – and Berries die – And Hemlocks – bow – to God – An ultimate landscape of the destiny of a dreamer seems here deciphered with a. 政治大. dominating spatial metaphor “House without the Door.” Significantly, the spatial. 立. metaphor not only visualizes the inevitability of a dreamer’s “Doom,” but also signals. ‧ 國. 學. the compulsory entrapping of a dreamer in his/her “Doom” “varied by the Dream.”. ‧. An utmost encounter between the dreamer and his/her fantasy about what is desired. Nat. io. sit. y. seems thus interestingly described in an arguable sense. The dream of the ideal. er. actually serves not only to terminate a dreamer in his/her death, but also, in a more. al. n. v i n C hthe inevitable fateUof the dreamer whose whole authorized manner, to determine engchi edifice of life seems to be shaped as an inescapable prison.. As regards the deceptive mannerism of fantasy about what is desired, the dream-determined destiny of an ideal-fascinated dreamer however describes a lamentable situation. The inevitable prison-like fate is however unrecognizable for an ideal-fascinated dreamer. The perception of reality, in one’s dreaming, can be unboundedly challenged, and the simulacra-distorted division between reality and. 35. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(44) dream is intertwined with the principles of concealing and believe-making.. V. Conclusion. With the destiny of an ideal-fascinated dreamer examined, the poems discussed in the chapter can just suffice, for readers, to uncover an ultimately comprehensive understanding of the deceptive mannerism of dream and dreaming. As explored in relation to Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra and simulation, the. 政治大 deceptive mannerism of dream as fantasy about the ideal is derived from the logics of 立. ‧ 國. 學. concealing and believe-making. This insight not only complicates the dream image in. ‧. Dickinson’s work as simulacra. It also accentuates the conceptual vagueness of the. sit. y. Nat. reality-ideal division. The omnipresent fabrication of the so-called “reality,” with the. n. al. er. io. work of the simulacral dream-fantasy, culminates in a bewildering landscape which. Ch. i n U. v. invalidates an attempt to clarify reality from dream and an imaginary.. engchi. Consequentially, the fact that comes to a dreamer, as seen in Dickinson’s poems, is the state of being entrapped and being victimized as a plaything in his/her fascinating vision of what is ideally desired. A dreamer is left in a simulacral play of illusions and phantasms.. 36. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(45) Chapter Three Dreaming in Society. I. Introduction. With such a postmodernist aspect of Dickinson’s poetics discovered, it is certain that these Dickinson lyrics serve to invite her readers to meditate hard on some difficult human situations. The postmodern landscape of hyper-reality the poems. 政治大 delineate, in particular, not merely imparts to us a critical understanding that dreams 立. ‧ 國. 學. we desire can be just simulacral fantasies, neither imaginary nor falsely generated.7. ‧. More significantly, it also in the sense serves to inspire, educate, and enlighten us to. sit. y. Nat. apprehend in Dickinson’s poems that these simulacral fantasies exert a certain power. n. al. er. io. of confinement, whereby one is reduced to pursue a sheer semiotic emptiness, with no. Ch. i n U. v. content or real-imaginary differentiation survived in a seeming realness and. engchi. authenticity. However, concerning the overwhelming—at times, traumatising—complexity. 7. Though critics such as William Pawlett tend to understand simulacra as illusions which is formulated through an endless circuit of pure images (“Simulation” 71), it is still important to note that Baudrillard’s simulacra is actually a more paradoxical concept which in fact precedes the divisions of the true/false, and the real/imaginary. For Baudrillard, “the simulacrum is true” (Simulacra and Simulation 1). The claim of the trueness of the simulacrum critically suggests that one may wrongly understand the simulacrum if, while examining it, a focus on the true/false or real/imaginary oppositions is still employed.. 37. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(46) implicit in her exquisitely constructed lines, we seem hardly to claim that such an analytic pattern is sufficient to exhibit a totalising perspective for understanding Dickinson’s poetry. As Robert Weisbuch contends, “Dickinosn’s poems are not about a subject matter but enact a way of seeing everything at once” (198). Not alone is the all-inclusiveness here regarded as characterising much of Dickinson’s poetry, which in a sense accentuates and celebrates the interpretive diversity of her every single. 政治大. piece of work. The implied inaptness here that one may insularly interpret Dickinson. 立. in sole consideration of one subject, in fact, to some extent, also proceeds to advocate. ‧ 國. 學. a sense of critical broadness that issues in her poetry shall be more extensively. ‧. associated with a wider range of many different pieces, despite their subject-wise. Nat. io. sit. y. irrelevance at the outset.8 It is made clear that in Dickinson nothing is able to be. er. plainly examined. There are always intense confluences where various perspectives. al. n. v i n C h of inspections onUher oeuvre as a whole. come to join and encourage an abundance engchi. In this regard, a worthwhile aspect that deserves further attention, for instance, can lie in the particular social aspect with which these simulacral dream-fantasies is arguably involved. For Baudrillard, the omnipresent penetration of simulacra is. 8. Robert Weisbuch in fact here embraces the uncertainty of Emily Dickinson’s poetry which generations of critical essays however have long aimed to resolve. He encourages three “dogmatic orders” of reading Emily Dickinson as an interpretive access to this, as he names, “undogmatic poet”: “Don’t point; don’t pry; don’t settle for one truth” (197). See Robert Weisbuch’s article “Prisming Dickinson; or, Gathering Paradise by Letting Go,” collected in The Emily Dickinson Handbook, pp. 197-223.. 38. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.

(47) socially influential; it is our social life that Baudrillard pays much attention to and, mostly in his works, considers an imperative field which facilitates the fundamental operation of the machinery of simulacra. In his other important work Symbolic Exchange and Death, Baudrillard makes clear such an understanding of simulacra by expounding that simulacra themselves “involve social relations and a social power” (“Order” 52). As is obviously suggested, the “social relations and a social power”—. 政治大. both qualities serve to sketch out the imperative understanding that the simulacrum is. 立. recognised as socially embroiled. It is clearly indicated that, the simulacrum, rather. ‧ 國. 學. than an ultimate sign-structure with no referent, can more crucially point to a kind of. ‧. social phenomenon which, inter alias, entails a considerable degree of control over a. Nat. io. sit. y. relational structure.. er. Concerning such a socially related perspective on Baudrillard’s simulacra, one. al. n. v i n C h of a further lookUlies in what he identifies as “a key point that is especially worthy engchi. social power.” In a sense, it consecutively directs our focus on the simulacrum to a more detailed picture of its social ascendency which orbits around its formulated orders.9 William Pawlett explains the orders of simulacra with a more complete sense. 9. In “The Order of Simulacra,” included in his another characteristic works Symbolic Exchange and Death, Baudrillard maps out the genealogy of the three orders of simulacra: the counterfeit, production, and simulation. Each order points to the successive variation of the law of value since the Renaissance. Though they separately parallel different periods of time, we must uphold a view that the three orders are joined by one another rather than being set apart independently in a linear progress of time. For. 39. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202000134.