闘いを「見る」者と闘いに「参加する」者 : ボクシングから考える暴力の構図

概要

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Joyce Carol Oates had an experience rare among contemporary American women writers: when she was young, her father took her to boxing events. She was accustomed to watching violent actions even though she could not judge the goodness or badness of the spectacle. Almost all spectators were male, probably, and she was an isolated female. This experience instigated a hidden theme throughout her works-analyzing the motivations in violent actions taken by human beings-and also provides the impetus for the present study. She claims boxing exhibits a "connection between performer and observer so intimate, so frequently painful, so unresolved" (59) as to demand attention. She conducts an analysis of the reasons behind the enthusiasm of both boxers and audience. Boxing has been a motif in many literary works, pictures and movies. Joyce Carol Oates provides her own analysis of boxing in her essay On Boxing, not only enthusing about the sport but also adopting a standpoint apart from the feverish excitement. Drawing on Oates' insights about internalized intentions when people view violent sports such as boxing, this paper analyzes three works which consider boxing: Ernest Hemingway's "Fifty Grand, " Norman Mailer's The Fight, and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.