The Blurred Identity,the Uncertain Narration

Shanghai Dancing is one of the representative works of Brian Castro,it continues his post-modern writing style,putting all kinds of facts,fictitious stories,mythologies and memories together.The novel tells the story of a Chinese immigrant,Antonio Castro,who returns from Australia to China to pursue his family history,during the narration,generations of immigrants' living conditions are presented.Brian Castro also expresses his reflection about the problems that bother many immigrants such as identity,language and belongingness.The thesis tries to make a systematical analysis of the novel's narrative strategies and probe into the uncertain cultural identities of immigrants.The thesis consists of six parts.The first part provides a brief introduction of Brian Castro and Shanghai Dancing,stating about the main idea of this thesis.It points out the research objectives and methodology clearly and makes a general literature review of the studies of Shanghai Dancing.Chapter two mainly focuses on narrative time.Brian Castro applies non-linear narrative time technique,from the aspects of anachrony,achrony and unequal narrative space,which not only enhances the novel's narrative artistry,but also enriches its literary connotation.The condensed and reversible time and space break the readers' traditional cognitions,creating a random,ambiguous and uncertain atmosphere in the novel,which results in the dislocated cultural identities of characters.In chapter three,the thesis elaborates narrative voice from three different types of narrator:absent,covert and overt narrator.Frequent retreat and appearance of the narrator produce unique narrative effects.Multiple narrative voices fully represent the immigration history of the Castro family,showing the influence of multi-culture on the immigrants.Chapter four analyzes the diversified narrative perspectives from zero focalization,external focalization and internal focalization,showing the effect of randomness and indeterminacy.This kind of unstable perspectives leads to the fragmented identities of characters,which makes their identities uncertain and hard to define.The fifth chapter discusses the relationship between these narrative techniques and the theme of the novel.Distorted time and space break up traditional chronological order,blurring the boundary between the past and present.Non-linear narrative time juxtaposes stories of different ages together,which makes the characters' cultural identities dislocated.The creative meaning of multiple narrative voices not only lies in the reformation of forms,but also in the close connection with multicultural identity.Shifting focalizations imply the unreliability of the narrative text,deepening the effect of indeterminacy.The last part is a conclusion of the whole thesis.Non-linear narrative time,multiple narrative voices and diversified narrative perspectives represent the adrift living condition of the Castro family,reflecting the dislocated,multicultural and uncertain identities of immigrants.It is obvious that Brian Castro's purpose is to probe a suitable way for immigrants' living under the multi-culture environment.