Postmodernist Writing Techniques In Frank Chin’s Ghnga Din Highway

For a long time Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans have been marginalized and lost their voice under the suppression of cultural hegemony, racism, Orientalism, etc. Fortunately the prosperity and diversity of Chinese American literature in recent years have broken that silence which has been weakening the mind and spirit of Chinese Americans. Under the social, economic, cultural and political influence in this fast-developing world, Chinese American literature has ushered an era of pluralism. Among all those Chinese American writers, Frank Chin is one of the representatives. Devoting his whole life to constructing heroic tradition and changing the stereotypical images created by the white dominant society, Chin makes use of his pen as a weapon to fight for his own belief. His works, on the one hand, intensely lash the racism, bitterly attack those who lost their racial identity with self-contempt and self-betrayal on their road towards assimilation; on the other, actively shape the image who inherits the heroic tradition fighting for the mission of finding a unique stage for Chinese Americans in the large context of America. His Gunga Din Highway perfectly illustrates this idea.The novel revolves around the conflict between the fighter Ulysses Kwan and his father Longman Kwan who embraces assimilation. At the same time it concentrates on the growth of three young men. The father-son conflict, the different life paths chosen by the young generation, together with the complicated social backgrounds of each age, reveal the confusion and struggle of those young Chinese Americans and point out a direction that contemporary Chinese Americans should march on. Profound in the meaning of its content, the novel adopts postmodernist writing techniques like collage, intertextuality and parody. The thesis then will discuss the postmodernist writing techniques in the novel based on the illustration of the content and theme, giving readers a deeper perspective to further understand each character and to recognize the writer’s painstaking efforts. The thesis is divided into the following parts:The first part focuses on the brief introduction about the earlier Chinese American literature and then it moves on to the concise introduction of Frank Chin, postmodernist writing techniques and the application of these techniques in Chin’s novel Gunga Din Highway. They are followed by the literature review about this novel, the meaning of the thesis and the method of this research.The second part discusses the application of collage in the novel. Through the discussion of cultural collage, readers may enjoy themselves in Chin’s marvelous integration of Chinese heroic tradition, English literature and American pop culture and have the chance to appreciate the image of a masculine fighter of Ulysses.The third part goes with the introduction about intertextuality and parody and the application of them in the novel. Readers may feel the hopes the writer has and the anger and irony conveyed through these techniques.The fourth part highlights the narrative. Abandoning the traditional grand narrative, Chin adopts the way of skipping narrative. The discontinuous and fragmented narrative corresponds with the content and the theme of the novel, providing readers with a large space and freedom for imagination and actively taking part in enriching the meaning of the original text.The last part starts with a conclusion of the previous discussion followed by the reaffirmation of the profound meaning of Gunga Din Highway and Chin’s contribution to the Chinese American literature.