The Voice Of Family Narration From New Generation English Novels By Chinese American Women

Chinese American male writers tend to pay more attention to the oppression and discrimination of the mainstream white society to the ethnic Chinese,and construct the subjective consciousness of ethnic Chinese from the level of racial resistance.However,Chinese American female writers mainly construct the subjective consciousness of Chinese immigrant women through writing the immigrant families.It can be said that "family narrative" is the writing tradition of Chinese American female literature.As to the Chinese women wandering in the United States,the "home" in memory or in reality is always a topic that can’t be finished in both speaking and writing.The family narratives in the novels of Chinese American female new-generation writers,such as Lan Samantha Chang,May-Lee Chai,Catherine Liu,Kim Wong Keltner and et al,adopt and continue the traditions of family narratives of Chinese American female literacy in terms of theme,image and manifestation mode on the one hand,have the unique writing contents and language systems on the other hand.Compared with Chinese American female writers of the earlier period,Chinese American female new-generation writers are affected by the post-colonialism ideological trends and post-modern cultures,so the family narratives in their works present the containment to different cultures,show rather strong identification and tracing of the ethnic Chinese identity,and reflect the strong subject consciousness of voicing for the marginal population.Therefore,studying the family narratives of Chinese American female new-generation novels can not only enable us to clearly master the historical context and flowing deformation path of the family narratives of Chinese American female new-generation novels,but also promote us to detect the collision,conflict and integration between the Chinese and western cultures through the minimum unit of family.However,up to now,there have been few achievements in studying the family narratives of Chinese American female new-generation novels both at home and abroad.As to the systematic study of the family narrative voices of Chinese American new-generation female novels from the perspective of family narrative voice,the achievements could hardly be found.In view of this,based on Susan Lanser’s theory of female narrative voice,this paper combines the theories of psychology,communication,cultural anthropology and other disciplines with the critical methods of post-colonialism,neo-historicism,feminism and archetymy mythology to carry out three-dimensional and multi-layer research to the author-type voice,individual-type voice,and collective-type voice in the family narratives in Chinese American female new-generation novels.The paper is divided into five parts.The introduction of the paper illustrates the main concept of the paper,overseas and domestic research conditions,three modes of family writing in Chinese American female new-generation English novels,as well as the research theories and significance.First of all,it illustrates the concept of “new generation” and the connotation of Chinese American female English novel,and clarifies and summarizes the relevant domestic and overseas researches.Secondly,it concludes the three modes of family writing in Chinese American female new-generation English novels,and analyzes the characteristics of family narratives.In the end,the theoretical basis of the paper,as well as the research theories,significance and suppositions are clarified.The first chapter of the paper expounds the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels from the perspective of the author-type narrative voice,which is a kind of heterodigetic and collective narrative format with the potential self-referencing significance.First of all,from the expression of the author-type narrative voice of Chinese American female new-generation English novels,we can see that the novel presents a multi-dimensional theme of rebellion and dependence on family authority,and hostility and yearning for the white world.Secondly,the author-type voice structure of the family narratives in Chinese American female new-generation English novels demonstrates the bi-directional bridging format.From the perspective of the space level,the author-type voice connects the inner and outer spaces of the Chinese immigration groups.From the perspective of the time level,the author-type voice integrates the Chinese and American cultures.Secondly,the author-type voice of the family narratives in Chinese American female new-generation English novels mainly has to expression means: the dual replacement between omniscient narrative and individual narrative,dual focus of first-person retrospective narrative.The second chapter interprets the personal voices of Chinese American female new-generation English novels from the three dimensions of theme,structure and expression.First of all,since the personal voice is the voice of the narrator who is the character in the story,it directly refers to the internal living conditions of Chinese immigrant families,expresses the two major themes of bitterness and joy,good and evil.Secondly,through the study of personal voices,we can also find that Chinese American female new-generation English novels depict two kinds of conjugal relationships and two groups of female relationships.The internal relationships of these family members can be included in the matrix structure of Greimas as a whole.In the end,this chapter explores the expression means of the author-type voice from open personal narrative and private personal narrative.The third chapter expounds the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels from the perspective of collective narrative voice,which expresses a kind of common voice of the group,or a collection of various sounds.First of all,this chapter analyzes the prototype of the motherland,the prototype of the gold digger,and the prototype of the waif expressed by the collective voice.Secondly,this chapter expounds the structural morphology of the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels from the three aspects of the variation-type female voice,rotation-type female voice and gathering-type female voice.Moreover,as to the specific expression of the collective voice,the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels is developed through the multi-dimensional "We" voice and the referring group“I” voice.Established on the history of American Chinese literature and the history of American literature,the conclusion conducts a flowing and three-dimensional analysis of the breakthrough significance and unique values and limitations of the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels.First of all,from the perspective of the development vein of Chinese American female literature history,the breakthrough significance of the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels is mainly demonstrated by three transformations,which are respectively,the transformation from identity construction to identity tracing,the transformation from cultural symbol to cultural consumption and the transformation from macroscopic history to individual history.Secondly,from the perspective of the development vein of American literary history,the breakthrough significance of the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels is mainly reflected in the two transformations of Chinese female images: the transformation from passive and obedient women to active and aspiring women,and the transformation from women abandoning their families decisively to women with complex sentimental attachments to the family.In a word,the cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research on the family narrative of Chinese American female new-generation English novels extends the research space of Chinese American literature and even Chinese overseas literature,and expands the research fields of comparative literature and modern and contemporary Chinese literature,thus having rather important literature history,culture history and practical significance.