Between "Self" And "the Other"-Image Of China In Maugham’s East Of Suez,The Painted Veil And On A Chinese Screen

William Somerset Maugham,an outstanding representative of British writers in the 20~thh century,spent most of his life traveling around the world,created a large number of excellent works,including novels,dramas and travelogues etc,many of which have been translated into different languages and even remade into films and TV plays.His unique feelings about foreign culture in his writings exhibit not only his involuntary imperialist sentiment of Eastern colonists,but also his appreciation of and sympathy for the oriental nations that comes naturally from his own life experience.In light of Said’s Orientalism,the author of this thesis attempts to analyze the three pieces of works"The Painted Veil","On the Chinese Screen"and"The East of Suez",written by Maugham after his trip to China in 1919,to trace Maugham as a Western colonist whose thought is Orientalistic by way of scrutinized textual reading,and meanwhile,to dig deeper Maugham’s involuntary revelation of appreciation and sympathy for the East on account of his own special life experience.The thesis will analyze Maugham’s three pieces of works from four aspects,Chinese characters,mixed marriage,religions and the Opium Den which indicate the death and decay.The aim is to analyze how Maugham expresses his Orientalism towards Oriental nationality,culture and other images in his three pieces of works and how he shows his humanity.They are showed as the ambivalence in his three pieces of works.Therefore,this study of Maugham is conducted from two perspectives.By doing so can we not only acquire broader perspectives and enlightening ideas for the future appreciation of the works of other Western writers,but also promote the cultural exchanges between China and the West.