剛剛在【性別所】「演講」這個題目，就收到好朋友來信講公路電影。嘻嘻！真巧！
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父職重生：從小說《兩度誕生》到電影《敲開我心門》
I. 「啥？就這樣？性別議題在哪裡？」
A. 母職：剪不斷/不剪斷的臍帶
B. 父職：還有另一條臍帶嗎？
II. 啟蒙小說《兩度誕生》
A. 理性/誠實爸爸 Professor Frigerio:
B. 感性/自欺欺人媽媽
1. Franca: “Would you please stop making the child fall?”
2. A math teacher as a mother of a son who has an ADD:
“I slap him, but then I feel worse than he does.” …”It’s love-
hate, don’t you think?” she says, almost begging. “That’s what
we feel for our children. We love them too much.”
Like many mothers who don’t really feel it, she fakes an epic sense
of maternity. The words of an American pedagogue come to mind: “If
you want to do more for your children, do less.”
The embarrassed parents listen in silence. At times, the blackmail
of language prevents us from showing the repugnance it triggers in
us.
The doctor looks to me for assistance. “Professor Frigerio, what
do you think about this? You’re a teacher too; surely you’ve
tutored your son—“
“No, actually I rarely tutor him,” I reply, “because it has the
same effect on me.”
“Do you slap your son too?” the doctor asks sarcastically.
“No, but there are worse offenses. A degrading look hurts.
Intolerance is just as bad.”
The math teacher sticks out her chest; she’s please to have found
someone whom she sees as an ally. “And it happens with our own
children, the ones we love most. It doesn’t happen with other
students, the ones who pay to be tutored.”
“That’s the whole point,” I say gravely.
“What is?”
“To begin with, the lesson you’re giving your son is atypical.
You’re not getting paid for it.”
The math teacher looks at me in amazement.
“That’s the first frustrating thing about it,” I say, “and it
can’t be ignored.”
“What a cynic you are!” the math teacher exclaims.
“I’m not the problem,” I say. “The problem is the lesson. A
free lesson has to be gratifying in other ways. But because the
student in this case just doesn’t understand, the lesson fosters
new frustrations.”
I am pleased with the level of calm I am maintaining.
“Then, added to these frustrations,” I go on to say, “is an even
greater delusion: that the student is our child.”
“The love-hate relationship I was talking about before,” the
teacher suggests.
“No,” I reply, looking down. “I wouldn’t call it that. I would
call it hate. You, in that precise moment, hate your son. That’s
all. It’s pure hate.”
“What on earth are you saying?”
She has turned imploringly toward the doctor, but the doctor does
not volunteer a word.
“You don’t have to explain,” I say. “You’re hurting him. You’
ll love him later. IN that particular moment, though, you hate
him.”
She looks back toward the doctor.
“What do you think? Is it true that I feel this way?”
“Why ask me?” she says. “They’re your feelings.” (Born Twice,
pp. 100-3)
III. 公路電影《敲開我心門》
A. 理性家長/老手媽媽：Nicole as a mentor, or advisor
B. 感性家長/新手爸爸：Giani as an amateur/new father with a
sense of guilt
IV. 誰的再生經驗？Paolo’s or Giani’s?
A. Born Twice as a Bildungsroman: Professor Grigerio’s re-
birth
B. Keys to the House as a Bildungsroman: Giani’s re-birth
C. 大江健三郎與大江光的故事
V. 很好！聰明的爸爸越來越多：父職團體
◎ 延伸書單:
1. Pontiggia, Giuseppe. Born Twice: A Novel of Fatherhood. Trans.
by Oonagh Stransky. New York: Random House, 2003.
2. Dickinson, Charlie. “Born Twice：A Novel of Fatherhood” (book
review)
http://www.hackwriters.com/Borntwice.htm3. “A Totally Unauthorized Reading Group Guide to Guiseppe
Pontiggia’s Great Novel of Fatherhood, ‘Born Twice’” (March 8,
2007)
http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/a-totally-unauthorized-reading-group-guide-to-guiseppe-pontiggias-great-novel-
of-fatherhood-born-twice/
4. “The Keys to the House” from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Keys_to_the_House 5. Fatherhood Foundation:
http://www.fatherhood.org.au/index.html
