On The Fiction Of Yu Lihua In Perspective Of The Cultural Other

This thesis takes the perspective of the cultural other to analyze the marginal and cross-cultural features of Yu Lihua as an overseas Chinese writer, and combines the related theories andknowledge of cross-cultural psychology, comparative culture, comparative literature and so on forthe systematic research and evaluation of Yu Lihua’s fiction and the assessment of her status in thehistory of overseas Chinese literature. The specific study goes in the following three aspects:Ⅰ System and phases. Applying the theory of five-stage acculturation in cross-culturalpsychology and related knowledge of comparative culture, the thesis explains the main line of YuLihua’s fiction system which is the variation and development of the living state and culturalpsychology of Chinese academic migrants in America. According to the main line the wholesystem could be divided into two phases: early fiction, including the works from1960s to1970s;later fiction, including the works from1980s to the present. The thesis points out that the uniquecontribution of Yu Lihua in the history of Chinese literature in America is to display fully andcompletely the process of “seeking cultural roots” while “localization” of academic migrants andtheir descendants with sustained writing of nearly fifty years.Ⅱ Themes and artistic features. The thesis explores the group characteristics andpersonalities on theme and artistic feature of Yu Lihua’s fiction by comparison with Chinesewriters in America of different eras. Yu Lihua is the representative of Taiwanese writers migratingto America from1950s to1970s. These writers feature the core theme of identity anxiety andseeking cultural roots, the sad and gloomy aesthetic style and the artistic approaches combining thetraits of Chinese, Western, traditional and modern literature. Yu Lihua’s fiction fully embodiesthese group characteristics while possesses its own personalities. Its core theme is to explore thecultural belongingness of overseas Chinese. Yu Lihua points out the importance of culturaladaptation and the inadequacies of Chinese culture while traces the cultural roots of Chinesemigrants in America. The aesthetic style of “Sad but not heart-broken” tragedy and the fictionpattern combining the traits of refined, popular, Chinese and Western literature, are also markedpersonalities of Yu Lihua’s fiction.Ⅲ Value and historical status. The thesis on the one hand summarizes the literary, aestheticand cultural and social value of Yu Lihua’s fiction; On the other hand, comments on its defect in width of vision, depth of thought and artistic approaches compared with other overseas Chinesewriters from1950s. In the end, the thesis concludes on the value and historical status of Yu Lihuain overseas Chinese literature.