Chinatown Narrative And Chinese American Cultural Identity—A Study Of Frank Chin,Fae Mvenne Ng And Jeffery Paul Chan

In the Chinese American literary field from the early1960’s to the beginning of21st century, Chinese American writers Frank Chin, Fae Myenne Ng and Jeffery Paul Chan are well-noted for their distinctive San Francisco Chinatown narratives. The images of Chinatown they have molded are diverse and extraordinary. In the1960’s to1970’s, Chinatown is represented as the image of "slum" in the short story "Food for All His Dead" and drama The Year of the Dragon written by Frank Chin; In the early1990’s, Chinatown is represented as the image of "hometown" in Frank Chin’s fiction Donald Duk and Fae Myenne Ng’s fiction Bone; At the beginning of21st century, Chinatown is represented as the image of "new home" in Jeffery Paul Chan’s fiction Eat Everything Before You Die:A Chinaman in the Counterculture.This dissertation aims to study Chinatown narrative in the literary works of these three writers, systematically analyzing distinct heterogeneity and inherent ethnic identity politics as well as historical and cultural causes that Chinatown narrative presents. In the light of the double consciousness illustrated by American sociologist W.E.B.DuBois, post-colonial cultural studies theorist Paul Gilroy further elaborates on the concept of double consciousness, illuminating the theoretic inquiry of diasporic hybrid identity. Besides, the concept of dual personality put forward by Frank Chin and Jeffery Paul Chan in "Racist Love" is also applied for reference, thus a theoretic framework is proposed to interpret the literary works mentioned above.In regard to the images of "slum","hometown" and "new home", the dynamic and fluid images of Chinatown reflect varied motifs in different periods:"Escaping Chinatown","Leaving and Returning to Chinatown" and "Transcending Chinatown", which represent three types of transmutations concerning Chinese American hybrid identity, namely, split identity, in-between identity and reconstructed identity.Tracing the progress of Chinatown development in the history of Chinese Americans, the introduction presents a literature review of the Chinatown narrative shared by the group of writers in San Francisco Chinatown from late19th century to the beginning of21st century, especially the domestic and overseas researches concerning Frank Chin, Fae Myenne Ng and Jeffery Paul Chan.The main body consists of three chapters:Chapter one,"Escaping Chinatown—Split Identity":Focusing upon Frank Chin’s short story "Food for All His Dead" and drama The Year of the Dragon, this chapter analyzes the image of "slum" and Chinese American split identity that Chinatown narrative presents. The protagonists in "Food for All His Dead" and The Year of the Dragon are split between Chinatown Chinese society and mainstream society and get stuck in a fixed dilemma, which embodies the motif of "Escaping Chinatown". This motif echoes the representation of Chinatown as the image of "slum". The Orientalist perspective in "Food for All His Dead" and The Year of the Dragon corresponds with Frank Chin’s writing aporia, for on the one hand, Frank Chin resists racist stereotyping of Chinatown, but on the other hand, he’s unable to create a new Chinese American identity out of racist ideology.Chapter two," Leaving and Returning to Chinatown—In-between Identity":Focusing upon Frank Chin’s fiction Donald Duk and Fae Myenne Ng’s fiction Bone, this chapter analyzes the image of "hometown" and Chinese American in-between identity that Chinatown narrative presents. Through negotiating between Chinatown Chinese culture and mainstream culture, the two protagonists in Donald Duk and Bone relocate their Chinese American hybrid identities, which embody the motif of "Leaving and Returning to Chinatown". This motif echoes the representation of Chinatown as the image of "hometown". The negotiations of double perspectives within and out of Chinatown correspond with Frank Chin and Fae Myenne Ng’s recognition of Chinatown as Chinese ethnic root and cultural fountainhead for Chinese Americans as a result of negotiating Chinatown Chinese culture with mainstream culture.Chapter three,"Transcending Chinatown—Reconstructed Identity":Focusing upon Jeffery Paul Chan’s fiction Eat Everything Before You Die:A Chinaman in the Counterculture, this chapter analyzes the image of "new home" and Chinese American reconstructed identity that Chinatown narrative presents. Reconstructed individual and community identities combine the features of both Chinatown Chinese culture and mainstream culture, yet they are hard to be categorized into either culture, which embodies the motif of "Transcending Chinatown". This motif echoes the representation of Chinatown as the image of "new home". The multiple perspectives in the fiction correspond with multicultural coexistence in Chinatown, which reflects Jeffery Paul Chan transcends the binary oppositions of Chinatown Chinese culture and mainstream culture. Symbolizing a miniature of cosmopolitanism, Chinatown culture accommodates and assimilates different cultures in the multicultural world. Chinatown culture stands for the vitality of Chinese American culture, which is on the way to consistent recreation and regeneration through nourishing global culture in the process of absorbing multicultural essence.The conclusion illustrates Chinese American writers Frank Chin, Fae Myenne Ng and Jeffery Paul Chan represent three types of transmutation concerning Chinese American hybrid identity through Chinatown narrative in the aim of constructing and reconstructing Chinese American cultural identity.