The Third Space Constructed By Chinese Dietary Culture In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, And The Hundred Secret Senses

Amy Tan is one of the most influential Chinese American writers, whose works have always been the hot academic point in and out of China. The studies on Tan's works mainly focus on mother and daughter relationship, Sino-US cultural conflict, Feminist studies and so on. The studies on Chinese dietary culture in her works are less discussed, and no one has ever studied the cultural outlook in Tan's works with Homik Bhabha's Third Space theory. This thesis intends to put forward the cultural space constructed by Chinese dietary culture in Amy Tan's first three novels with the support of Homik Bhabha's Postcolonial Perspectives, aiming at exploring a reasonable living and developing path for the Chinese immigrants. This thesis will discuss the significance of Chinese dietary culture in Tan's works, the relationship between food and culture, and the reconstruction of Chinese Americans'cultural identification through food culture. According to Amy Tan's cultural outlook, this thesis will excavate the realistic significance of it in today's multi-cultural environment.The thesis includes five parts, which starts with a brief introduction to both Amy Tan as a writer and her early three works, The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, and The Hundred Secret Senses, and the academic studies and criticism on her works at home and abroad. Following the introduction comes the second part where Homik Bhabha's post-colonial theory will be introduced to give the readers a whole picture of the theoretical foundation of this paper. The third part gives a complete and detailed analysis of Chinese dietary culture in the novels. In the light of Homik Bhabha'Third Space theory, the fourth part tries to find out the reasonable path for the Chinese Americans to locate their cultural identification. Based on the above analysis, the final part draws a conclusion that the large amount of food images in the works make the Chinese Americans reconsider their identity and cultural belonging, get a clear mind of themselves, and explore the best solution for living and developing in a multi-cultural environment, that is, to live with Chinese character in the American circumstance putting forward by Amy Tan. The thesis explores the deep multicultural outlook in the above mentioned three novels on the basis of the Third Space theory, hoping to provide a new perspective for the study of the works of the Chinese American writers.