A Research On The Datong Vision In The Short Stories Of Sui Sin Far

Sui Sin Far?Edith Maude Eaton,1865—1914?,the daughter of an English father and a Chinese mother,spent most of her life in New York,America and Montreal,Canada.As a Eurasian,she wandered between the East and the West,writing about the harmonious coexistence between various ethnic groups.In the 19^th-century America,cultural assimilation together with the atmosphere of Chinese exclusion was prevailing.Sui Sin Far,who could have passed herself into a white or a Japanese with the advantage of her appearance like other mixed-race children,stood up and recklessly identified herself as a Chinese.She was the first writer to write for the Chinese people,and thus was honored as“the founder of Chinese North-American literature”.The theory of Cultural Datong takes“Harmony beyond Assimilation”as its core.It opposes against both cultural isolation and cultural assimilation,but takes a middle way in order to realize a world of“cultural hybrid”.Based on the above theory,this thesis focuses on an exploration of the Datong vision in Sui Sin Far's two representative short stories:“The Wisdom of the New”and“The Americanizing of Pau Tsu”.The full thesis consists of three parts,namely the introduction,the main body?including three chapters?and the conclusion.The introduction part introduces the life and historical background of Sui Sin Far and her longing for the Datong.In addition,several important topics are sorted out as well as the basic trends of the research on Sui Sin Far at home and abroad.The second chapter introduces in Fei Xiaotong's view of the Cultural Datong.After having defined the meaning of Cultural Datong,the thesis points out two aspects of the theory.The third and fourth chapters carry on specific textual analysis based on the short stories“The Wisdom of the New”and“The Americanizing of Pau Tsu”respectively,so that an in-depth explanation to the theory of Cultural Datong might be made.Finally,the conclusion part summarizes the previous parts,and proposes that the research on the Datong vision in Sui Sin Far's works might be helpful to promote the interactions and mutual-learning as well as harmonious coexistence between the Chinese and the Western cultures.This thesis attempts to analyze and study the representative short stories of Sui Sin Far based on Fei Xiaotong's theory of Cultural Datong,so as to extend the inner dimension of the theory and provide a Chinese cultural perspective for the research of the Datong vision in the works of Sui Sin Far.Born in the year of turmoil,and passing away in the age of trouble,Sui Sin Far led a vagrant life but the feeling of love filled her heart.All in all,she has never changed her original mind.Adhering to the idea of harmonious coexistence between China and the West,Sui Sin Far kept looking forward to the coming of a world of Datong.