呼唤“居间”:山内若子戏剧中的民族共同体书写

In Request of an “In-Between” Community:The Writing of National Community in Wakako Yamauchi’s Plays

山内若子是著名的美国日裔小说家和剧作家。在《音乐课》和《灵魂将要起舞》两部戏剧中,她描述了美国日裔在加州沙漠农场中艰难谋生的经历,刻画了美国日裔在美国体制性种族歧视和恶劣自然环境中的生存史。山内通过描述日裔内部不同的文化身份认同、一世与二世之间的文化冲突,指出日裔民族共同体内部存在的分裂因素。面对日裔民族共同体的衰落,山内呼唤在美国和日本两种文化“居间”空间中建立一个更具包容性的美国日裔共同体。

Wakako Yamauchi is a famous Japanese American novelist and playwright. In The Music Lessons and And the Soul Shall Dance, Yamauchi narrates the experiences of Japanese Americans struggling to survive on the California desert farm, and depicts their survival history under the institutional racial discrimination and harsh natural environment in the United States.Yamauchi highlights the divisive factors in the Japanese cultural community by describing different cultural identities within the Japanese ethnic group, cultural conflicts between Issei and Nisei. Faced with the decline of the Japanese national community, Yamauchi calls for a more inclusive Japanese American community built in the “in-between” space of American and Japanese cultures.