| This thesis introduces and explains the concept of peripheral subjectivity and employs it to analyze 3 fictional narratives from Hong Kong's English-language prose literature genre. The study engages with Hong Kong's literature and history through the lenses of postcolonial theory and cultural studies theory and examines the narratives' protagonists as peripheral subjects of the colony. It identifies Hong Kong as a peripheral realm that does not exhibit a unifying nationalism in the narratives but rather contains traces of the nationalisms of Britain and China, the colony's imperial and post-imperial forebears. The protagonists are examined as Hong Kong residents who are estranged geographically and culturally from their homelands. As American, British, and Chinese expatriates, this study argues, these characters are challenged to identify and establish themselves in specific new ways in relation to the other fictional Hong Kong residents with whom they interact in the narratives. |
