本文嘗試以置身於阿岡本所主張之例外狀態卻被排除於法之外的生命態式－裸命，來探討柯慈的小說《等待野蠻人》中治安官的身份叙事。小說描寫治安官收留了蠻族女子，而後將她送回她的部落，他因此被視為帝國的叛徒而入獄，從帝國统治者代表被貶為帝國迫害的對象。治安官與蠻族女子的结合，象徵著野蠻與文明兩股力量交鋒後既衝突又相輔的矛盾關係；而他被貶為帝國叛徒進而被囚禁的狀況，則可視為被代表帝國主權的、第三局派來的喬爾上校藉由禁令手段排除式的納入界於政治秩序邊緣的例外狀態中。在此狀態中，由帝國主權管轄的治安官因對帝國安全造成威脅而被剝奪人權，因此，若將帝國視為「政治秩序」而視其所帶來之文明為「法」的話，則治安官所呈現出的生命態式，即是「裸命」，而此裸命所處的例外狀態即是文明餘緒。裸命被排除在外又被箝制於帝國這一政治秩序內，無法回歸，只能與政治場域共存，而當法的規範與實踐在此例外狀態中被懸置或棄置時，就由帝國主權來決定並宣告因應對策，以鞏固其主權的正當性。若說主權與法－即帝國與文明－的權力是建構在決斷例外狀態的能力上，那麼，在此文本中所描述的囚禁野蠻人的營區和禁閉治安官的牢房，便是這種例外狀態的結構。也就是說，凡有帝國與文明的場域，就會層出不窮地產生禁錮野蠻人與治安官這樣的例外狀態—即文明餘緒，湧現其中的裸命只能依照主權的命令苟活。小說結局描述帝國士兵最终未能消滅野蠻人，而治安官带領居民重建家園。柯慈如此安排，突顯出治安官的救贖觀念，也展現出柯慈對文明餘緒的人道關懷，這與阿岡本的期望－斬斷生命與法的聯繫、釋放生命，使其免於陷入裸命的困境與遭受其威脅－是不謀而合的。
This essay applies Giorgio Agamben's assertion, ＂bare life,＂ to investigate the narrative that constructs the Magistrate's identity in J. M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians. The story tells of the Magistrate's deed of sheltering a barbarian girl. He is thus deemed as a traitor to the Empire and is relegated from the imperial ruler on behalf of the Empire to the object of persecution. His union with the barbarian girl symbolizes a contradictory and yet complementary relationship formed after the two forces, barbarism and civilization, conflict and confront with each other. The Magistrate's condition may be regarded as that which is exclusively included in a state of exception at the edge of political order. Colonel Joel is the one who places an exclusion order on the Magistrate. The Magistrate is deprived of human rights because of the security threat he has brought to the Empire; yet, he belongs to the jurisdiction of the imperial sovereignty. If the empire is seen as ＂political order＂ and civilization brought by it as ＂law,＂ then the life form shown by the Magistrate can be treated as ＂bare life＂ and the state of exception in which this bare life settles thus turns out to be the residues of civilization. The bare life is excluded from the Empire and yet immobilized in its political order. Unable to return, it could only coexist with the political field. While the norms and practice of law in the state of exception are suspended or abandoned, it is the Empire that declares its strategies to consolidate its legitimacy. If the power of sovereignty and law, namely empire and civilization, is constructed on their capacity of determining the state of exception, then the barrack where the barbarians have been held and the ward in which the Magistrate is imprisoned can be seen as the structure of state of exception. While there is a field for the empire and civilization, such a state of exception, which detains the barbarians and the Magistrate, will be endlessly created. Under such a sovereign's commands, the bare life which emerges from a state of exception barely lives on in degradation. The story's ending tells that the Empire soldiers fail to destroy the barbarians and the Magistrate eventually leads the residents rebuild their homes. Such an arrangement not only highlights the Magistrate's concept of salvation, but also shows Coetzee's humanitarian concern toward the residues of civilization, which coincides with Agamben's expectations: to cut the bonding between life and law, to liberate life, so that life will not be trapped into any difficulties and threats that bare life is faced with.