A Research On The Changing Discourse Of Chinese American Literature In The Multicultural Context

Because of its rich interpretability, literature, as a unique discourse system, isn’t just a sign of ideograph,it’s also a kind of discourse that has the connotation of cultural, political, and gender appeals. Through its different writing strategies, the discourse in literary works has the functions of representing life, reflecting oneself and expressing one’s appeals, etc. In spite of this, literariness is the unique feature of literary works, which distinguish itself from other discourse systems such as the discourse in political or economic field. So when analyzing a literary work, we shouldn’t focus on the content while neglecting its form. The in-depth study of literary works should be conducted from the form to the content gradually, rather than totally neglecting the literariness of works to explore their social function. If the literariness of a literary work is cast aside for the purpose of its social function, then the literary work will lose its unique feature and be reduced to the dull social and historical documents. In effect, the aesthetics and the social function of a literary work are complementary to each other. So only when we integrate the form and content of literary discourse together, can we have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of a literary work. Besides, any literary work is created under a certain social, historical, political and cultural background, therefore, the form and contents of literature discourse have inseparable relationship with its social context.Throughout the history of Chinese American literature, its origination and development have close connection with the formation of American multiculturalism and its transformation. In the polyethnic immigrant nation of America, it’s important for minority ethnic groups to strive for their right of speech, because only when they get the chance to speak and then express their ideas, can they be paid enough attention to. So Chinese American literature under different social contexts uses different writing strategies just in order to express their specific discourse appeal. Based on the situation of Chinese Americans and their responses in American society, this dissertation divides the ideological trend of multiculturalism that affects their lives into three types, namely, multiculturalism of ethnic politics, multiculturalism of feminist appeal and multiculturalism in the era of globalization.In the context of multiculturalism of ethnic politics, Chinese American literature mainly draws on the counter-discourse of critical realism to fight against the racists’ oppression on Chinese Americans and their distortion of Chinese American history. So the writings of Chinese American often adopt the deconstructive writing strategies such as the “small history” narration, the construction of “anti-hero” image and the writing mode which is against the traditional western genre, and in this way they show their criticism towards the social reality at that time. For example, in Louis Chou’s Eat a Bowl of Tea and Shawn Hsu Wong’s Homebase, the two Chinese American writers both adopt the “historical narration” of Chinese American family to reveal the “History” of the whole Chinese American ethnic group, and in this way, they intend to deconstruct the hegemonic discourse of American mainstream society and its concealing of the Chinese American history and their current living conditions. In Frank Chin’s The Chickencoop Chinaman and The Year of Dragon, the author creates the typical character of “the angry young man” to show his resistance against racial prejudice and subvert the westerners’ stereotyped image of Chinese Americans. Besides, in Laurence Yep’s Dragonwings and Frank Chin’s Donald Duk, the two authors break away from the traditional writing mode of western initiation novels by presenting the unique living environment of Chinese American kids and their process of growth in the prejudiced American society. And in this way, the works reveal the harm of racial prejudice to the growth of kids and also show the good wishes to transcend the binary opposition between the eastern culture and the western culture.With the development of the Civil Rights Movement, the Feminist Movement also flourished, so the ideological trend of multiculturalism during this period shows distinct female appeal. Influenced by such a trend, Chinese American female writings present unique characteristics,that is, the feminist discourse in their works resist against the shackles of patriarchy and racism at the same time. The representative works during this period include Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club and Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Women Warrior, which apply the polyphonic narrative voice and the Chinese element to present the conflicts and the reconciliation between the Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters, thus illustrating vividly the aspirations of the whole Chinese American female group as well as their perplexity and awakening about their culture dilemma in American society. Susan Lance, the American feminist critic, thinks that the wiring feature of female writers is not decided by the nature of the female; rather, it is molded by the ever-changing social conventions in a certain social and historical context. Therefore, the choice of the form of discourse by the female writers has close connection with the social and historical background of its time. Due to the development of multiculturalism American government put forward the slogan of cultural diversity. However, the phenomenon of inequality still exists between the American white and the ethnic groups on the right of speech. Under such a social background, it’s not an easy task for the ethnic writers to enter the mainstream literary field. For this reason, some writers have to make some compromise or apply some crafty writing strategies to deal with the censorship of American mainstream society. Hence, the diversified female narrative techniques can reveal the female writers’ living situations and their special cultural appeals. Besides, “the Chinese element” has long been a remarkable feature in Chinese American writings, especially in Chinese American female writers’ works, which is often presented through the Chinese stories told by the Chinese mothers and their daughters. And these Chinese stories usually contain profound meanings and have the function to express the Chinese American female’s gender and cultural appeals. But at the same time, their literary discourse has to be restricted by American mainstream society, so we can often sense the veiled influence of the western discourse politics. Therefore, through the analysis of the unique discourse strategy of telling Chinese stories, we can have a deeper knowledge of the writer’s creating purport as well as the social and historical background of the work.When it comes to the 1980’s, the multiculturalism in the era of globalization prompts the trend of diversified cultural appeals in Chinese American writings, so crossing the border of the traditional writing motif and its regression, the state of dispersing and constructing form the multi-voice discourse, which coexist in the writings of Chinese American writers during this period of time, such as the trauma writing on Chinese Americans’ history and their current living conditions in Fae Mvenne Ng’s Bone(2004); the trauma writing concerning the cultural identity in Gish Jen’s Typical American(1992) and Mona in the Promised Land(1996); the traumatic narration of modernity regarding Chinese American female in Ng, Mei’s Eating Chinese Food Naked(1998);the postmodernist’s discourse in Frank Chin’s Gung Din Highway(2004) and Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey—His Fake Book(1998) which uses the writing strategies of revelry and parody to challenge the authority of American hegemonic discourse; the literary discourse in the new works of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Fifth Book of Peace(2003)and Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning(2006)breaks away from the usual ethnic writing mode and shows universal humanistic concern about welfare of mankind, which takes initiative to survey and analyze the spiritual trauma brought by the western modern civilization. And since 1990 s, “Chinese Narration” in the contemporary Chinese American literature shows different connotations. Some of them have a splendid demonstration of Chinese elements for commercial purpose while others use exaggerated or distorted writing of Chinese history and culture, hoping to be accepted by the American mainstream society on this account. Of course there are also some works which have an objective presentation of the realistic situation of China. So in general in the context of the multiculturalism during the era of globalization, the contemporary Chinese American writings show diversified cultural choices: on one hand, Oriental “Chinese Narration” still exist for commercial purpose in order to win the westerners’ eyes for novelty; on the other hand, the writings which draw on the excellent Chinese cultural tradition flourish to help highlight the unique cultural heritage of Chinese Americans. Besides, there are also works which transcend the confinement of ethnic writing mode and show universal concern about welfare of mankind. Therefore, the continuous fighting for the benefit of the ethnic group of Chinese Americans, the attempt to transcend the limit of ethnic concerns and the “Chinese Narration” that caters to the western readers “horizon of expectations”, all these contribute to the construction of the polyphonic discourse of the contemporary Chinese American literature. These polyphonic discourses reflect different cultural value orientation and contemporary Chinese American writers’ political and cultural appeals in the context of the multiculturalism in the era of globalization.Along with the development of multiculturalism, the discourse of Chinese American literature undergoes a series of changes. In general, its ultimate goal is to strive for the chance of utterance and get their due position in the American society through literary writing. And a major mark of a literary work being widely accepted is to become a literary canon. However, the canonization of Chinese American literature has to face challenges from the traditional western literary canon as well as western culture and ideology. So through the analysis of the criterion for the formation of the traditional western literary canon and the factors that may influence the canonization of literary works, it will help us to see clearly the limitation of the “marginalized writing” in Chinese American literature and the correct direction for its development. Nietzsche’s aesthetic theory, with its Dionysian spirit as the core content, also combined with his major philosophical thoughts such as “The will to power” and “The philosophy of a Superman”, poses a challenge to the contemporary western culture and its values. So Nietzsche’s aesthetic theory points out the right direction for Chinese American literature to subvert the authentic position of the so-called western canon and construct its own literary aesthetics and values. Besides, the thought of respecting differences and constructing literary classics with diverse cultural characteristics proposed by “The Rainbow Coalition” is very helpful to break the binary opposition and hierarchical values and return to the literary tradition of humanism. In some sense, “The Rainbow Coalition” ’s proposal can help us to pay due attention to those elements that are often overlooked when discussing classic, such as the style of literary works, cheerfulness, enlightenment and other universal aesthetic qualities. The aesthetic consciousness of literature is the combination of cognition and emotion, so its form should be “the thought of poetry”, namely, literary discourse’s poetic expression of universal values. Therefore, to realize its canonization, Chinese American literature should strive for the poetic embodiment of the universal value of human being besides its attempt to break away from the fetter of the western hegemonic culture. Although in different countries, during different historical period, there will appear different literary classics, throughout the development of the world literature, the classics which can stand the test of time often reflects some trait of “beyond national boundaries” and universal humanistic care, thus becoming the eternal classics among the ever-changing criteria for literary canon.All in all, Chinese American literature is the product of a certain historical period, which is influenced by oriental and occidental cultures. The development of American multiculturalism directly affects the expression of the discourse of Chinese American literature. Therefore, through the study of the discursive practice of Chinese American literature in a certain context of multiculturalism from the social, historical and psychological aspects, it can reveal the rheological characteristics of Chinese American literary discourse and its role in fighting for the right of speech for the ethnic group of Chinese American and constructing a globalized “Rainbow Civilization”. Taking the form of Chinese American literary discourse as the starting-point of the research, it can highlight the literariness of works created by Chinese American writers and thus helps to have a deeper understanding of its unique writing strategies and its development. Also, it can help to construct the system of Chinese American literary criticism theory and explore the influencing factors for Chinese American literature to enter the rank of literary canon, thus prompting its healthy development.