On "Displacement" Of Yan Geling's Novels

Yan Geling is a representative figure for new immigrant literature.Her precise language,sharp perspectives and artistic narratives make her work of high aesthetic value.This thesis chooses to look at the "displacement" within her stories through text analysis,and explores her eternal pursuit of "sense of belonging" with reference to her life experience."Displacement" was a termed coined by Yan in the preface of her novel Flower and Youth to describe the displaced life of new immigrants caught between Chinese and western cultures.The author expanded the scope of "displacement" and offered interpretation of displacement in Yan's stories in five chapters.Introduction summarized existing studies on Yan,presented research thinking and objectives of the thesis and defined the keyword "displacement".Chapter One explained the displacement of human nature along the two coordinate systems of space and time,with an emphasis on displacement crisis in particular time and space.Chapter Two analyzed cultural displacement of Yan's characters in western culture through displacement of language,custom and thinking.Chapter Three discussed three types of displacement of love ethics:alienated and oppressed love,forbidden incest and homosexual love,and Yan's description of the three extremely distorted emotions.Chapter Four explained why Yan keeps writing about "displacement" from her own drifting life,aesthetic inclination and creative concept.Chapter Five has three sections.The first and second sections presented Yan's effort of "looking for belonging in displacement" from the multi-cultural perspective and retrospect of traditional Chinese culture.The third section briefly discussed why the answer is missing and limitations of Yan's work on this theme.After discussions about "what displacement" and "why displacement" in the previous chapters,this chapter proceeds to explore the question of "how to get the sense of belonging amid displacement".