吳明益《睡眠的航線》一書，以「睡眠」和「生態」為媒介寫歷史記憶，可說為台灣家族史小說的書寫開啓了新的航道。本文想要討論的，亦即這兩個元素的介入，對於作者想要處理的歷史記憶和戰爭主題有何特殊意義？全文共分兩個部分加以論述，先從小說中對「非人界」（包括動植物和菩薩）的敘述，探討生態學的知識和「神」的介入與戰爭主題之關係；再論述「人」的睡眠與夢境，如何在這場關於戰爭及災難的敘事中，召喚出那段壓抑與失憶的歷史記憶。人與「非人類」的角色，不只共同交織《睡眠的航線》觀看歷史的稜鏡，也體現了在面對無以名之，無從敘述的歷史創傷時，生命尋求出路的各種可能性。

Ming-yi Wu's The Course of Sleep which uses "sleep" and "ecology" as the medium for its writing of historical memory finds a new route for the novels of Taiwanese family history. This paper intends to investigate what significant meanings the two elements will contribute to the subjects of historical memory and war with which the author wants to deal. In the first part, through the description of "non-human world," (including animals, plants, and Bodhisattva) I will explore how the ecological knowledge and the intervention of "God" are related to the subject of war; and then, I will consider how sleep and dream evoke the repressed and lost historical memory in the narration about war and disaster. The characters of human and non-human not only interweave to form The Course of Sleep's view of history, but also indicate the various possibilities of seeking solutions when living beings face the unnameable and inexpressible historical trauma.