《中国佬》的史诗性及其华裔美国人文化身份建构

The Epic Narration of Maxine Hong Kingston's China Men and the Construction of the Cultural Identity of Chinese Americans Involved

汤亭亭的《女勇士》以华裔神话叙事手法表达了作者对华裔美国人文化身份危机的焦虑和诉求,其后出版的姊妹篇《中国佬》则进一步以其小说的史诗性强化对这一未解决的文化身份现状的吁求。从神话叙事到史诗构建,汤亭亭践行了《哥伦比亚美国文学史》序言中所称的20世纪美国文学的一大特点,就是家族史诗和种族冲突的作品大量涌现。文章从分析《中国佬》独特的神话叙事出发,解构小说所具有的文学史诗性,分析其史诗建构的基本要素、史诗的英雄性和家园意识,揭示其史诗性叙事所承载的对华裔美国人文化身份建构的理想设想和实践。

In her novel The Woman Warrior,Maxine Hong Kingston expressed her anxiety and appeal about the crisis of Chinese Americans＇ cultural identity from the perspective of Chinese American myths. In her next novel,China Men,Kingston discussed further the crisis in the form of epic-fiction. From mythical narration to epic construction,Kingston illuminates what is declared in Columbia Literary History of the United States that one of the major features of the 20 th century American literature is the eruption of the works of family epics and racial conflicts. This paper aims at exploring the pursuit of the Chinese Americans＇ cultural identity by analyzing the unique epic narration of China Men,deconstructing the literary epic in the novel,depicting the basic elements of the epic construction,the heroic nature of the epic and the consciousness of the homeland.