On Bharati Mukherjee’s Diaspora Trilogy

As a famous contemporary Indian American writer,Bharati Mukherjee plays a pivotal role in diaspora literature.Her novels The Tiger’s Daughter(1971),Wife(1975)and Jasmine(1989)are praised as “diaspora trilogy”,for their representations of diasporic females’ cultural dilemma are continuous and developmental.The trilogy witnesses Mukherjee’s spiritual and cultural transformations,mirrors her main insights into the cultural problems encountered by diasporic people,especially by diasporic females,and reflects the uniqueness of her literary creation.The dissertation aims to study the following three problems: firstly,the cultural problems encountered by diasporic people,especially by diasporic females,are taken from the standpoint of the theory of diaspora culture;secondly,the issue of female power is viewed from the perspective of feminist theory and postcolonial theory,to be more specific,how do diasporic females exert their female power to quest for self-assertion in the face of the “double subaltern” and “othering” predicaments is examined;thirdly,the spiritual and psychological problems of diasporic females are explored by a psychoanalysis method,and the issue of “homemaking” is probed into.After a thorough reading of the trilogy as a whole and under the guidance of the theory of diaspora culture,the dissertation explores the close correspondence between “the exile-the expatriate-the immigrant” cultural status of the trilogy and the writer’s experiences,and the “culturally rootless-culturally cocooned-culturally merging” evolution of the cultural perceptions that the trilogy manifests.Mukherjee’s diasporic writings reflect the spiritual and psychological development of diasporic people and challenge the stable and homogeneous concept of identity in the mainstream nationalist cultural narrative.Immigrants change host country after self-transformation,which is a two-way cultural transformation.Female identity and female power are constants in Mukherjee’s writings.By applying feminist criticism and post-colonial criticism,the dissertation explores the issue of female identity and female power,and probes into the “voicing” of diasporic females in the face of the “double subaltern” and “othering” predicaments.The dissertation argues that diasproic females have a continuous and effective struggle with “othering” and patriarchy by taking English language,name,sex and violence as ways to exert their female power.The three female protagonists in the trilogy-Tara,Dimple,and Jasmine-have found their unique voices in their own way in diaspora,and by which the writer also expresses her own view of diasporic female.Spiritual and psychological trauma that the diasporic females encounter in the cross-border process is paid closest attention to by Mukherjee’s diasporic writings.This dissertation explores the psychological problems of diasporic females such as “uncanny” and “unhomely” in the triology from the perspective of psychoanalysis,and shows that it is difficult for diasporic people to get rid of uncanny and unhomely whether they are at home,away from home or setting up a home.Next,the dissertation returns to the cultural perspective to explore the identity and homemaking of the diasporic people.As for Mukherjee’s diasporic female writing,this dissertation proposes that the writer actually has a “double insiders’ view”,that is,the writer as a female observes females,and as a diasporic person observes diaspric people.What is more,the “double insiders” are interrelated,which shows the unique nature of Mukherjee’s diasporistic writing different from that of ordinary male diaspric writings.The dissertation holds that Mukherjee’s “diaspora trilogy” has unfolded a flowing inner spiritual world and launched an active psychological world,which is the basic problem that diasporic writers must face and recognize.This inner flow makes the world of diasporic people become uncertain.Because of its uncertainty,the world of diasporic people has had the vitality to challenge the general rigid deterministic world,has influenced the social culture of the host country,has reflected that diasporic literature enjoys more creative vitality than other literature,and has brought gratifying contributions to world literature,which is one of the reasons why the dissertation takes Mukherjee’s novels as the research object.