Conflict Complex and Artistic Ambiguity (American Chinese Literature Beyond Politics and Ethnicity)

Author: Zhang Qiong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This book is based on the author's doctoral dissertation and aims to conduct specialized research on American Chinese literature, responding to the current trend of "de-ethnicization" in ethnic minority literary studies. It seeks to propose and anticipate new approaches and suggestions for studying American Chinese literary works and cultural adaptation, viewing them from a broader and more comprehensive perspective as literary works first and foremost. The book argues that the success of many American Chinese writers has surpassed the scope of ethnic politics and ethnology. Additionally, from the perspectives of both creators and readers, the main narrative of the book focuses on two unique elements of American Chinese literature—ambivalence and artistic ambiguity—and consistently explores how these factors contribute to the works transcending ethnic boundaries and embodying literary charm.
Chapter 1 begins by analyzing the ambivalence and artistic ambiguity within the family context in these works. As a special space, ethnic families witness cross-racial transformations and conflicts of ethnic roots, serving as a subtle intersection of ethnicity and internationality. Meanwhile, "home" has increasingly become an idealized symbol of nostalgia for postmodern and diasporic ethnic groups, and it is also an important yet limited space for forming female self-identity. In this chapter, the metaphorical relationships between mothers and daughters in American Chinese literature become the primary focus of analysis. Due to the involvement of cultural conflicts, cultural imagery, marginal experiences, Chinese cultural collective unconscious, and intuitive discourse in this relationship, the special cultural context of the works reveals the subtle attitudes of the writers toward their national culture in terms of alienation, reconciliation, and resistance. In the works of Amy Tan, the theme of mother-daughter relationships provides readers with a perspective to explore the implicit and subtle messages between culture and artistic creation. Meanwhile, the ways in which Jade Snow Wong and Gish Jen handle mother-daughter relationships also reveal the eternal and contradictory pursuit of literary creation. Although mother-daughter relationships are a universal theme in literary writing, the unique cultural attitudes and approaches in these works give them a distinctive literary charm. Additionally, this chapter analyzes the ambivalence and artistic ambiguity in the families of interethnic marriages in Chinese American novels. In such families, ethnic factors and cultural conflicts lead to issues of cultural assimilation and a sense of belonging. Some works intertwine contradictory cultural values, life attitudes, and diasporic ethnic traditions, reflecting the shared concerns of modern people in cultural adaptation. Therefore, by studying the eternal paradigm of marital relationships in human relationships, the paper demonstrates how ideological and life shifts enrich the content of American Chinese literature.
Chapter 2 examines the manifestations of ambivalence and artistic ambiguity in ethnic and non-ethnic pursuits in Chinese American works. First, the author analyzes the underlying dualities and ethnic shadows in many corresponding works, attempting to reveal the existence of both universal and specific second selves and ambivalences in American Chinese literature. When encountering the ambivalence and artistic effects of ambiguity in the text, readers need to employ more comprehensive knowledge, such as historical, economic, and other aspects of American reality, to extend the aesthetic experience of life. The second part of this chapter introduces and analyzes Gish Jen's novel Monica in the Promised Land (1996). While exploring the cultural pursuits of the author and literary characters both within and outside the ethnic context, the article elaborates on the characteristics of diasporic ethnic literature, the philosophical perspective of fusion between different viewpoints, and the self-establishment of different cultures. Additionally, from a new perspective on diasporic ethnic criticism, the relationship between identity pursuit and the homeland versus the adopted country is also reexamined. In this chapter, the code transformation analysis of ambivalence and artistic ambiguity in culture and literature also encourages deeper reflection on the relationship between the self and the other, as well as cross-cultural relationships, making it clear that the traditional purely European (or Western) cultural framework is no longer applicable. Therefore, in the creation and criticism of American Chinese literature, a complex "phenomenology of difference" that transcends traditional identity concepts and dialectics will be further explored. In the works of Gish Jen and other Chinese American writers, whether from a literal or metaphorical perspective, we can sense that we are in a dynamic process of dissemination and movement. This process, to a certain extent, is also an inexhaustible resource for the polyphony of literature.
Chapter 3 emphasizes and analyzes the ambivalence and artistic ambiguity of culture in different border zones, such as post-Orientalism and commercialism, neo-primitivism and modernism, between memory and anticipation, and between homeland and adopted culture. The successful transplantation of literature, especially the prosperity of American Chinese literature in the past five decades, cannot be ignored the influence of ideological and philosophical concepts, particularly Orientalism. At the same time, the relationship between American Chinese people and their homeland and adopted country is also portrayed as highly subtle in the works. To construct their identities, the efforts of Chinese American writers in their creations reflect their endless striving to break free from the shackles of Orientalism and to deconstruct the misunderstood Chinese culture. Therefore, their efforts to "struggle," "self-promote," and "accumulate power and obtain clear identity" are implicitly or explicitly reflected in their works, which also transform the misinterpretations of Orientalism into self-representation. The success of these writers, viewed today, carries a touch of irony, as many of them have either consciously or unconsciously contributed to the distortion of the East. Another clever way in which Chinese American writers integrate with mainstream literature is by inheriting American individualism and the American Dream, blending their creative efforts into self-fulfillment. In the contradictory combination of Chinese American literature and Orientalism, and in its fusion with mainstream culture, American Chinese literature has evolved from objectively interpreting the stereotyped and discriminated ethnic culture to freely expressing itself and striving to give its unique voice in American literature. The second part of this chapter analyzes the neo-primitivism in the works of Amy Tan to reveal the relationship between literary creation—especially ethnic female writing—and mystical primal elements. In Amy Tan's works, the author's cultural ambivalence is highlighted, and new American myths are reconstructed through the effect of artistic ambiguity. At the same time, the works also raise some thought-provoking and complex issues for modern readers.
The third part of this chapter focuses on the border between memory and anticipation, analyzing the mythic and spectral elements in literary narration and the unique narrative rhythm they create. In further elaboration, the article suggests that some strange stories chosen or created by the writers form a special type of narration, and many ethnic stories in memory also transcend the boundaries of ethnic history and culture, bringing aesthetic pleasure to readers. The subsequent confusion is that the tension within and beyond the works extends the depth of American Chinese literature, leaving the issue of cultural inheritance in a state of indecision. Therefore, the fourth part of this chapter naturally leads to the complex relationship between homeland and adopted culture, comparing the manifestations of this aspect in the works of Jade Snow Wong and Gish Jen from a historical perspective. The cultural border zones reflect that American Chinese literature provides a promising analytical field, filled with conflicting, integrating, and interacting factors. Under the premise that ambivalence and artistic ambiguity are universal and specific literary and aesthetic features of American Chinese literature, the final chapter of this book explores and reveals the transformation of classicization strategies in literary research and the latest trends in this complex evaluation. The analysis in this chapter also looks ahead to the research and creation of American Chinese literature, arguing that in the process of consolidating existing classics, people have never stopped appropriately reorganizing the cultural field, and this process does not align with the expansion of classics. Here, the author analyzes from the perspective of ambivalence and artistic ambiguity, attempting to demonstrate that there are numerous mysterious and potential factors both within and outside literary creation, in addition to cultural and social factors, elements such as language, poetics, and other inherent elements related to the novel form should also be valued. Thus, we cannot hold a naive optimistic attitude toward American Chinese literature or feel complacent in the favorable environment of globalization. Although we lack a cross-classical premise to analyze the acceptability of ethnic literature, overall, American Chinese literature should first be viewed as a subject of literature and aesthetics. Of course, the works contain inherent cultural and social tensions, but from a deeper and more essential perspective, ambivalence and artistic ambiguity are two features among many special matrices that contribute to literary charm and the success of American Chinese literature.