Deterritorialization In Shanghai Dancing

Brian Castro(1950–)is a representative of contemporary diasporic writing,and his Chinese name is Gao Bowen.Castro’s works have won wide attention from the critics in English-speaking countries,which is influenced by his complex cultural background and superb language art.With Chinese,English and Portuguese ancestry,he is deeply influenced by multiple cultures.Besides,his play of language and unique narrative mode are quite essential in creation.The technique of his writing is original and unique,trying to break the traditional classification and mixing various genres in work,which has a rich connotation and unique artistic charm.Shanghai Dancing is a fictional autobiography that tells the story of the protagonist António,suffers from identity confusion and uncertainty,returning from Australia to China in search of his family history.In terms of artistic form,the work has the main characteristic of the minor national literature— deterritorialization,that is,the transcendence and subversion of the traditional mainstream literary creation mode.The thesis tries to analyze the artistic features of deterritorialization in the fictional autobiography from three aspects,that is,language,text and identity,with the help of concept of deterritorialization put forward by Gilles Deleuze(1925–1995)and Félix Guattari(1930–1992).Firstly,from a linguistic point of view,the novel presents a mixture of multiple languages and expressions that do not conform to grammatical norms,thus subverting the single and dominant value system of English.Although Shanghai Dancing is mainly written in English,it also contains the expressions of other languages,such as French and Portuguese.The multilingual hybridity challenges the dominant position of English as the mainstream language.Besides,some sentences that do not conform to English grammatical norms show the tension of language,while repeated sentences that do not express clear meaning make meaning tremble around the vocabulary,and make meaning and signifier separate.The minor use of English gets rid of the realm of standard English norms,deterritorializing the standard English.Secondly,from the perspective of text,the narration of the autobiography subverts the traditional mode of writing.On the one hand,Castro combines facts,myth,and memories to blur the boundary between the truth and fiction,and then getting rid of the territorialization of traditional genres.On the other hand,unlike the traditional narrative mode,he employs a jazz-style narrative to arrange the plot.First of all,there are repeated descriptions of music and dance in the novel.In addition,the interweaving of different narrative sounds actually constitutes the solo and ensemble in jazz.Besides,the use of free indirect speech in dialogues speeds up the narrative rhythm and presents the effect of glissando in music.Thirdly,the deterritorialization of the text structure and language challenges the traditional view of identity characterized by ethnic and regional attributes.Castro challenges the traditional cultural identity and attempts to construct a multilayer and fluid identity for the diaspora.That is fulfilled with the help of rhizomatic thought and nomadic perspective.On the one hand,the author breaks the traditional narrative mode.The fragmented narration and shifting narrative perspective all bring a sense of confusion to the reader,resulting in the dislocation of the character’s cultural identity.On the other hand,the hybrid of different languages in Shanghai Dancing shows the manifestation of multiculturalism in minor nation represented by immigrant.The protagonist regards multiculturalism as a new nomadic behavior,trying to break away from the constraints of time,space and identity and getting a fluid cultural identity.In a word,based on a close reading of the text and the concept of deterritorialization put forward by Deleuze and Guattari,the thesis presents an in-depth analysis of the manifestation of deterritorialization in writing strategies and characters’ cultural identity construction.It aims to explore how immigrants find the right way to live their lives in a multicultural environment.Furthermore,it also reveals the author’s intention to establish the discourse power for himself and the protagonist in the work.Also,Castro aims to reconstruct personal identity and reflect on ethnic cultural identity.In addition,reading and studying Castro’s fictional autobiography have some practical significance for understanding and studying the minor literature which is mainly about writing immigrants.