鱼尾狮神话:新加坡后殖民诗歌典范

Myth of Merlion: Post-Colonial Poetry of Singapore

新加坡华文与英文诗人、作家在其作品中建构了鱼尾狮(m erlion)神话———新加坡的原创神话。作者在作品中以不同的民族文化的身份与欲望认同建构其神话时,赋予不相似的文化符号。书写神话,无论是历史的还是想象的,都是民族身份的认同的投影、国民性或社会形态的意象。而不同族群、不同语言的作家书写的新加坡的鱼尾狮,都说明某些东西如何形成和存在,都是从不同的角度创造国族的认同身份。

Merlion is an original myth of Singapore. This paper makes a comparative study of two poems on the merlion, which is a symbol of the hybrid culture of Singapore. Edwin Thumboo＇ s Ulysses by the Merlion and Liang Yue＇s Merlion, which are written in English and Chinese respectively, show that most post-colonial writings have concerned themselves with the hybridized nature of post-colonial culture. Hybridity occurs in post-colonial society as a result of conscious moments of cultural suppression when invaders forced the local peoples to assimilate to new social patterns. As the nationalism is stronger in the Chinese writers like Liang Yue, he rejects the idea of a cultural melting pot as a myth which was attempted by the colonial government.