| The exploration of the question of identity is a pervasive theme in Chinese American literature. In the discourse of Chinese Americanness, variegated perspectives of Chinese American identity have been delineated by writers. In the recent two decades, critical reflections of this ethnic literature are also infused with discussions of the question as represented in individual texts, but a systematic study of the representations of Chinese American identity has not yet been developed.; The primary goal of this study is to examine the different conceptions and perspectives on this question as represented in a variety of texts of different genres mainly from a postcolonial perspective, and to study their consequences and implications. I have reviewed and critiqued three main perspectives so as to underscore the discursive development of Chinese American identity politics. The three perspectives, namely the Native, the National, and the Diasporic/Global, are found to be the most representative among Chinese Americans as delineated in literary works and are constructed in the historical and cultural contexts particular to the ethnic Chinese by such writers as, among others, Frank Chin, Shawn Wong, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Li-Young Lee, and Marilyn Chin.; Each of the chosen texts is closely examined for its ways of defining Chinese American subjectivity and identity. Some writers locate Chinese American identity in Chinese American sensibilities conditioned by a history of dominance and subordination. Others negotiate this question by examining the devastating reality of a double-cultural heritage, and still others approach this question by appropriating their family history, memory, and Chinese history in their search for their subjectivity and cultural identity.; The dissertation concludes that Chinese American identity can only be located in literary representations. |
