第二语言写作的创造性与自我

Writing in a Second Language:Creativity and Self

从李华追求自我表达和Jewell Parker Rhodes追求自我超越两种不同的创造性写作理论出发,提出第二语言写作能使找到自我和跨越个体界限这两种理想同时实现。第二语言写作过程所促生的自我双重化运动,即自我和他者的复杂视角互动,也更新补充了Mark McGurl基于单一母语模式所总结的爱荷华作家工作坊主导下的传统写作模型,而这重新定义了写作中的创造性和真实性概念。对有第二语言写作经历的一些作家的考察表明,第二语言写作涉及的自我双重化运动能造成自我的转变和叙事声音的不同。第二语言写作所带来的双重视角可以促使写作者跨越语言和文化的界限,成为创造性的来源之一。同时,对于发生在两个文化系统之间的交流,真实性也并不存在明确的边界。在心理学家John W.Berry的文化适应模型中,只有融合策略能够容纳双重文化视角,激发写作者进行创造性的选择,并加深对真实性的理解。

Starting with two different creative writing theories,Hua Li’s pursuit of expressing the self and Jewell Parker Rhodes’s ideal of transcending the self,this paper stresses that writing in a second language can make both possible.The particular movement of"doubling the self"resulting from writing in a second language,the complex interaction between the self and the self as the other,revises the traditional Iowa model Mark McGurl identifies on the basis of monolingual writing,redefining creativity as well as authenticity.An examination of some writers who have written in their second language reveals that such experiences did lead to a changed self and different voices.Various viewpoints brought by writing in a second language urge the writers to cross the boundaries linguistically and culturally,which becomes a source of creativity.In the meantime,as between two cultural systems authenticity has no definite borderline,John W.Berry’s model of acculturation helps explain that only the integration mode embraces multiple viewpoints,encourages the writer to select creatively,and facilitates a deeper understanding of authenticity.