Pursuing The Third Space Based On Hybridity

With the development of globalization and multiculturalism,those who are in a background of several cultures have encountered identity crisis as well as the challenge in the construction of their identities.The postcolonial theorist—Homi K.Bhabha's ideas of “the Third Space” and “Hybridity” have provided a theoretical basis and space for interpreting identity issues in the literature works featured cross-cultural writing.The Australian writer Nicholas Jose acts as an envoy of cultural communication of Sino-foreign by way of writing fiction.His cross-cultural novels Avenue of Eternal Peace and The Red Thread discuss on the identity topic caused by the confrontations and reconciliations of different cultures which demonstrate his effort at the creative explorations on the identity issues.The relationship between the author's great-grandfather as well as his grandfather and China and also his journey in China make him live in a space between the western culture and the eastern culture,and this cultural identity in turn has an important influence on his creation of novels.This thesis comprises five parts,that is,introduction,three chapters and conclusion.The first part is an introduction about Nicholas Jose's life,his novels Avenue of Eternal Peace and The Red Thread and their literature reviews in both China and abroad,the theory used in this thesis as well as the layout of this thesis.Then based on Homi K.Bhabha's concept of hybridity,chapter one analyzes the construction of identity of Chinese and Australian characters in the two novels.Chapter two illustrates the main feature in the two novels—the hybridity of culture from aspects of title and content.Chapter three concretizes “the Third Space” and discusses characters' pursuing for this space.The last part is a conclusion of the whole thesis.By analyzing the construction of the characters' cultural identity,this thesis aims to enhance the theme of cross-cultural communication and to provide a new perspective for other scholars to the research of Nicholas Jose and his works.