Chinese American Writers' "Cultural Translation" From The Diasporic Perspective

The study of Chinese American literature usually focuses on this ethnic group's ethnical identity and sexual identity,as well as cultural conflicts related to the identity issues,but rarely relates cultural translation to the nature of their artistic creation.Based on the analysis of the masterpieces of three leading figures in Chinese American literature,this thesis will take a new multidisciplinary approach to explore the special quality of Chinese American writers and their works----"hybridity" by means of the combination of postcolonial translation theory,the diasporic perspective in cultural study and narratology.Structurally,the thesis consists of three chapters and a conclusion.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to Chinese American Literature and explores the literary positions of Frank Chin,Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan,as well as their major works with special focus on DonaM Duk,The Woman Warrior and Joy Luck Club,which are the main cases studied in this thesis.An overview of the critical reviews of Chinese American novels and the significance of this thesis are also given in the following part,and the last part is the structure of this thesis.Chapter Two studies these three marvelous Chinese American novels as cultural translation,and puts an emphasis on Chinese American writers' diasporic perspective, the perspective of hybrid recognition,which wields a great influence upon the translation principles,"foreignization and domestication",applied in their cultural translation.Chapter Three argues that one of the most important narratological strategies applied in many Chinese American writers' cultural translation is the internal focalization.That's because under the diasporic perspective,their cultural translation is characterized by cross-national hybridity,and the characters' consciousness flows mainly due to this hybridity of multiple cultures,which can be strongly manifested by means of internal focalization.Finally a conclusion is drawn,which reemphasizes the main points and the significance of this thesis.