“开花结果在海外”——论陈瑞琳及她的北美新移民文学研究

“Kaihua Jieguo Zai Haiwai”: On Chen Ruilin and Her Research in New Migrant Literature in North America

陈瑞琳是海外华文文学,尤其是北美新移民文学及其活动的积极推动者。她以她的海外华文文学创作和研究,接通了现代文学和海外华文文学的发展脉息;她发现了一个个海外华文文学的勤奋耕耘者,引领着他们成长;她勾勒出了美华文学的地图和文学史的发展轮廓,还是中美文化交流的忠实使者。具体说来,陈瑞琳是从当代汉语文学发展史的意义上来关注海外华文文学的;其《家住墨西哥湾》等为主的移民叙事为题的散文创作独具个性,其《横看成岭侧成峰——北美当代新移民文学散论》等对新移民作家及其作品的个性批评和审美批评为主的批评模式,独具批评风采。作为北美新移民文学的开拓者,陈瑞琳正和一批新移民作家创造着世界华文文学的精彩篇章,为当代中国文学的海外发展开拓着全新的空间,丰富着汉语文学的精神文化内涵。

Chen Ruilin is an active promoter of Chinese literatures overseas, particularly of new migrant literature in North America and its activities. She, with her creative writings and research in overseas Chinese literatures, connects the veins of development in modern literature and overseas Chinese literatures of which she has discovered one after another diligent cultivator and has led them in their growth. She has sketched the contours of development in the map and literary history of American-Chinese literature apart from being a loyal ambassador in the cultural exchange of the U.S.A. and China. On more concrete terms, Chen concerns herself with overseas Chinese literatures from the angle of contemporary Chinese-language literature in its development, whose prose style is uniquely individualistic such as her work, Home in the Gulf of Mexico, a narrative based on migrant stories and her Profiles that Turn into Facades： A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays on Contemporary New Migrant Literature in North America, with unique features, provides a critical mode mainly based on the individual and aesthetic criticism of the new migrant writers and their works. As a pioneer in new migrant literature in North America, Chen Ruilin, along with a group of new migrant writers, is writing a brilliant chapter in the creation of a world Chinese-language literature, exploring a brand-new space for the development of Chinese literature overseas and enriching the spiritual and cultural contents of the Chinese-language literature.