From The Loss Of Homeland Imagination To The Construction Of Spiritual Home

Originally,the word “diaspora” refers to the growth process of plants by the spread of seeds or pollen.Since the appearance of The Old Testament,“Diaspora” had been used exclusively to refer to the living state of Ancient Jews who were compelled to live far away from their homeland.In modern times,i.e.the age of globalization,the word refers to any person who lives outside his traditional homeland but can't cut off his connections with it.As a concomitant of the phenomena of diaspora,“diaspora writing” or “diaspora literature” refers to diaspora writers' literary works which reflect their diaspora consciousness.“A diaspora writer” is the writer who has diasporic experiences.“Diaspora consciousness” is a diaspora's awareness of his cross-border living state between homeland and hostland.In the age of globalization,with the rapid increase of the phenomena of diasporas,diaspora writing develops quickly and has become a remarkable literary phenomenon.As a “Persian-born,Rhodesian-raised and London-residing novelist”,Doris Lessing,who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2007,belongs to the diasporas in the age of globalization.This paper explores the causes of Lessing's diaspora consciousness as well as the trace of the connotations of her diaspora consciousness during the changing process of her diaspora types.Lessing's diaspora consciousness derived from the bestowal of her family,the influence of education,the edification of reading and the stimulation by African reality.Lessing was born “in a moving cradle”,being taken to the colony by her parents before she was born.During the process of receiving education,Lessing had to move from one boarding school to another,so “she learned the techniques of diaspora in the process of diaspora.” Reading lightened her diasporic life with literature nourishing her sympathy for the miseries of human beings and calling her attention to the destiny of humanity.Her roam on African land led her to realize that mankind was only a part of the cosmic organism and her experiences in the communist group urged her to break boundaries and embarked on the diasporic journey to pursue “the grand human family”.Robin Cohen classifies diasporas into “classical diasporas” with the compelled Ancient Jewish diasporas as representatives and the voluntary “modern diasporas” in the age of globalization according to their motives to leave homeland,and Lessing is a “modern diaspora”.At the same time,according to the theories about Third Culture Kids,judged by the homelands Lessing leaves behind,she can be grouped into “imperial diasporas”,“African diasporas” and “world diasporas” in turn.As a descendant of the English colonists in southern Africa,the teenager Lessing was an “imperial diaspora” and her diaspora consciousness manifested in her dubious attitude towards the root myth with regard to England,the homeland.On the one hand,she was influenced by her parents so she also had a root complex about England.On the other hand,she belonged to the new generation of the white in southern Africa,so she often questioned and dissolved this “root myth”.After the end of World War II,Lessing left Africa where she grew up and went to England.At the same time,she was forbidden to enter by the government of Southern Rhodesia so she became an “African diaspora”.At that time,her diaspora consciousness was shown as a tendency to regard “the past Africa” she constructed according to her memory and needs as “an imaginary homeland” and to regard “the present England” as an alien land.Since 1969 when Lessing published her novel The Four-Gated City,she has gradually exhibited the diaspora consciousness of “a deterritorialized diaspora” in her creation of science fiction.That is to transcend the exclusive territorial claims towards a certain land,and to jump out of the world in imagination to survey the trend of human history and explore the frontiers of human homes in the vast universe.Now the homeland Lessing leaves behind in imagination is the whole world,so we call her “a world diaspora” according to this in the paper.In fact,“disapora consciousness” is “home consciousness” which manifests in the alienation from hostland and the yearnings for an ideal home.Owning to the differences between different diaspora types,a diaspora's ideal home may be the homeland he leaves behind or “the land of hope” ahead of him.During the changing process of Lessing's diaspora types,the connotations of her diaspora consciousness changed from frequently looking back on homeland to the voluntary quest for spiritual home.The teenager Lessing longed to return to England,the homeland.After World War ?,Lessing merely regarded Africa where she grew up as the harbor of her spirit.In the later part of her life,Lessing refused to take root in any lands.Instead,she rushed to “the great front”,to pursue “a greener pasture” in writing by imagination.Throughout her diasporic journey,the color of Lessing's diaspora consciousness changes from negative to positive,and to have positive diaspora consciousness is the common feature of diaspora writers in the age of globalization.