Carnival And Dialogue In A Multicultural Perspective

The contemporary immigrant writer Michael Ondaatje, who is famous for The English Patient, is unique in the writing. He insisted on going to the world line, transcend national, ethnic and class on, in seeking his own cultural identity, while concerned about the dialogue between different cultures, especially the dialogue between Eastern Culture and Western Culture. He breaks the boundaries between the real and fictional, the art and reality, and also breaks the boundaries of a variety of genres and interdisciplinary, Makes the work a "melting pot of style".In addition to all of above, he uses the techniques of polyphony skillfully. Currently in the country of China, the concern about him is incompatible with his international reputation, Academia pay Insufficient attention to him, few achievements were made, and study of his novels always focused on only one aspect. Researchers pay more attention to analysis of the novel features of post-modernism, especially post-colonial, but can not appreciate its artistic beauty of the whole. Now I try to combine the Carnival Poetics of Bakhtin and Michael Ondaatje's novels, to provide a new perspective for the full appreciation of Ondaatje's novels, as well as provide a new paradigm for the combination of Carnival Poetics and literature.Limited by space, this dissertation mainly interprets on the three novels, The English Patient, Coming through Slaughter, and Running in the Family, which have high degree of carnival. There are four chapters in this dissertation:Introduction:It introduces the major works of Michael Ondaatje and the present situation of research on them, and present the overall idea of the paper, that to explain the significance of interpret novels of Michael Ondaatje with the Carnival Poetics of Bakhtin.Chapter One:It analyses the carnival literary world in Ondaatje's novels. The main characters live in "the second world" which is different from the normal world, where is called "carnival square". Here is full of carnival laughter, Farce, thriller, the laughter and ridicule are melting into one easy and heavy, and it is filled with alternating update carnival sense of the world.Chapter Two:It analyses the carnival characters in Ondaatje's novels. The main characters in Ondaatje's novels are of the grotesque images that have marginalized status. The coronation and decrowning of the characters highlighted their duality and unfinished nature.Chapter Three:It analyses the Carnival of the genre form in Ondaatje's novels. Ondaatje's novels prominently reflected hybrid language and multi-language voice, Mosaic Genre, Style Simulation, and Parody, make the novels be a carnival square. Ondaatje also use the techniques of polyphony, enhanced the color of the carnival style.Chapter Four:It analyses the reason of Michael Ondaatje carnival thought, and then reveals the signification of Carnival spirit and the spirit of dialogue which the novels contained, especially the Enlightenment to China.Conclusion:To summarize, point to the Carnival spirit and the spirit of dialogue which the novels contained, and reveal the signification.Because of Michael Ondaatje carnival thought which he formed under the edge of identity, Ondaatje's novels imply the carnival spirit which is of subversive and open. The world, characters and genre form in the novels have distinct characteristics. Ondaatje breaks the traditional rigid boundaries of various levels, so that the different style, different languages and spirits can exchange free, it calling for the carnival spirit of freedom and the spirit of dialogue of equality in the world range. This spirit, embodies the true respect of human nature, is driving force of development of literature and humanities, and is useful for literature between different cultures complement each other cards, and is good for communication between different cultures of human and harmonious development, but also is conducive to the promotion understanding and tolerance between people, and perhaps is the only hope to save human civilization. In Chinese Literature and the Humanities, the real implementation of the spirit of free carnival spirit of dialogue and equality, is to have the courage to break the Stereotyped thought and replace with the multiple fixed-thinking thought, to carry on the dialogue between traditional and modern, interdisciplinary dialogue and the dialogue in different cultural system, so to improve and develop themselves. If do that, Today China's "Carnival" under Multi-cultural prevalence will be guided to a new stage of full light, and Chinese culture will make their unique contribution to the human literature.