Bowen R
University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
J Homosex. 1998;36(2):87-97. doi: 10.1300/J082v36n02_07.
Edward Said and others have identified the Orient as a space of sexual opportunity for western travelers and servants of empire, while more recently Joseph Boone and Rudi Bleys hav focused on, respectively, the "homerotics of orientalism" and the "motives and conditions of homosexual exile." In terms of both sexual and imperial politics, Lawrence Durrell's Scobie, "peddyrast" and transvestite, presents a challenge. I have chosen to rehabilitate rather than deconstruct this determinedly transgressive figure, perhaps the most oddly privileged of all the characters in the Alexandria Quartet. Though Scobie may exhibit some orientalizing and colonial habits of mind, his more positive gestures, such as his relationship with Abdul, are unique in this sequence of novels. Within the limits of his time and generation, and within the confines of an imperial culture, he comes closest to reconciling East and West as he destabilizes gender roles and challenges racial division.
爱德华·萨义德等人认为，东方是西方旅行者和帝国仆人性机遇的空间，而最近约瑟夫·布恩和鲁迪·布利斯分别关注了“东方主义的同性恋特质”和“同性恋流亡的动机与条件”。在性政治和帝国政治方面，劳伦斯·达雷尔笔下的斯科比，这个“娈童癖者”和异装癖者，提出了一个挑战。我选择修复而非解构这个坚决越界的人物，他或许是《亚历山大四部曲》中所有角色里最奇特地享有特权的一个。尽管斯科比可能表现出一些东方化和殖民的思维习惯，但他更积极的举动，比如他与阿卜杜勒的关系，在这一系列小说中是独一无二的。在他所处的时代和一代人的局限内，以及在帝国文化的范围内，他在打破性别角色和挑战种族划分时，最接近于调和东西方的矛盾。
