A Brief Introduction to Chinese American Writers and Their Works.docx

1、A Brief Introduction to Chinese American Writers and Their Works华裔美国作家及其作品简介 A Brief Introduction to Chinese American Writers and Their Works ContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. The Brief Introduction to the Background Information.2II. The Brief Introduction to the Writers and Their Works.31. Maxine Hon

2、g Kingston.31) Biography of the writer.32) The introduction to her works.42. Amy Tan.71) Biography of the writer.72) The introduction to her works.83. Gus Lee.101) Biography of the writer.102) The introduction to his works.114. Gish Jen.121) Biography of the writer.122) The introduction to her works

3、.12III. The Influence of Chinese American Writers and Their Works.13IV. Conclusion.14References.15Abstract: Chinese-American literature refers to fictions written in English by Americans of Chinese origin. The Woman Warrior and The Joy Luck Club have made their authors, Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy

4、Tan, popular among American readers. The two best-sellers also hallmarked the entry of Chinese-American literature into the American mainstream. While Chinese-American literature is flourishing in the United States, the “China image” is also changing. The unique viewpoints and writing skills of Chin

5、ese American writers, as well as the profound background of Chinese history and civilization, had a strong influence on the American readers, making them feel refreshed. Among them, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Gus Lee, and Gish Jen are the famous ones. And this paper will focus on those Chinese A

6、merican writers and their works. The paper will follow three steps:1) the brief introduction to the background information; 2) the brief introduction to the writers and their works; 3) the influence of them and their works. Key words: Chinese American literature; Chinese American writers; works; inf

7、luence, thoughts摘 要：美国华裔文学是指华裔美国人用英文写的小说。花木兰和喜福会这两部作品使其作者汤婷婷、谭恩美深受美国读者的喜爱。同时这两部畅销书也标志美国华裔文学融入美国主流文学。而华裔文学在美国的蓬勃发展，“中国形象”也在变化。华裔美国作家独特的观点和写作技巧以及深厚的历史文化背景对美国读者产生了强烈的影响，使他们感到耳目一新。其中，汤婷婷、谭恩美、李健孙、任璧莲都是十分著名的作家。而本文将侧重于这些华裔作家和他们的作品介绍。这篇论文将分以下三部分:1)背景知识简介；2)作者及其作品简介；3)作者及其作品的影响。 关键词：美国华裔文学;华裔美国作家；作品；影响；思想I.

8、The Brief Introduction to the Background InformationChinese-American literature refers to works that are written in English by Americans who are with the Chinese origin. When Chinese began to immigrate to the United States during the gold-rush age, most of them had been struggling at the bottom of t

9、he American society. When mentioned in American literature, the image of Chinese was a weak female who was always seeking for help. In the eyes of Westerners, they were always “outsiders.” Under such situations, even America-born Chinese writers fought against their mother culture in their creations

10、. The situation did not change until the latter half of the 20th century in which the Civil Rights Movement took place in the United States. Many Americans began to think about people of the other races and their cultures in a different way. Besides, Feminist Movement, Anti-Vietnam War and Minority

11、Rights, in addition to the improvement in Sino-US relation, forced the mainstream of American society to pay more attention to the Chinese image. In the 1970s, when more and more people accepted globalization, they not only accepted the Chinese-American writers whose works reflected the Chinese cult

12、ure but also subjected to fighting against authority and centralization. Whats more, the unique viewpoints and writing skills of these writers, as well as the profound background of Chinese history and civilization, had a strong influence on the American readers, making them feel refreshed.Neverthel

13、ess, Chinese-American writers are a very unique group. To the American culture, they are Chinese who followed the Chinese tradition, but in front of the Chinese civilization, they are also outsiders. Living as “outsiders” of both cultures, their interpretation of the “China image” may not be as accu

14、rate as it is supposed to be. It is natural that they have to follow the American cultural trend and aesthetic taste. Therefore, in their fictions, Chinese immigrants cannot get rid of the image of “outsider” and “the weak” while their knowledge about the Chinese civilization is far from enough. Thi

15、s is the dilemma for Chinese-American writers. Therefore, identity-seeking has always been one of the most prominent themes in Chinese American literary writing, since Chinese Americans have been grappling with the psychological and social dilemma of the identity crises. Chinese immigrants often fin

16、d themselves in an identity dilemma when they move to America. Although first-generation Chinese immigrants usually try to maintain their ethnic identity in America as Chinese, they often find it difficult to attain this goal. All kinds of racism in the American society contribute to the breakdown o

17、f their traditional Chinese values, and they have to struggle with a new culture. Finally they see the necessity of going back to their Chinese roots and trying to achieve a connection with their original Chinese culture and a sense of racial and cultural pride if they are to know and accept who the

18、y are in the multicultural environment. Consequently, at the final stage, Chinese Americans find their new identity as Chinese Americans who embrace the multiple and often conflicting aspects of Chinese American culturea blended culture in a shrinking world that is itself becoming more and more cult

19、urally hybrid. With this aim, many Chinese American writers use their pens to create a new form of culture. So Chinese American liberation has come into being. II. The Brief Introduction to the Writers and Their Works1. Maxine Hong Kingston1) Biography of the writerMaxine Ting Ting Hong was born on

20、October 27, 1940, in Stockton, California, which had been a major supply center during the California gold-rush era of the mid-nineteenth century. A year earlier, in 1939, her mother, Ying Lan Hong, had arrived from China at Ellis Island, New York, to join her husband, Tom, who had emigrated from Ch

21、ina to the United States fifteen years earlier. Named for a blond female gambler whom her father had met while working in a gambling establishment in California, Maxine, the first of six American-born children in the family, grew up in Stocktons Chinatown, where her parents owned a laundry business.

22、 She never felt that her parents encouraged her to do well in her academic studies, in part because in their conservative Chinese culture, women often are not expected to have careers outside of the home. Her negative childhood experiences are reflected in The Woman Warrior, in which she exhibits a

23、certain bitterness leveled at her parents, as well as at American and Chinese cultures.After having excelled in her high-school studies, Hong won eleven scholarships that allowed her to attend the University of California at Berkeley, from which she graduated in 1962. That same year, she married Ear

24、ll Kingston, an actor. Two years later, she returned to Berkeley to pursue a teaching certificate, which she received in 1965. For the next two years, she taught English and mathematics in Hayward, California, and then in 1967, she, her husband, and their son, Joseph, moved to the island of Hawaii,

25、where her great-grandfathers first had worked when they immigrated to America. In China Men, Kingston describes the experiences of her forefathers working on the rough plantations of Hawaii, which they called Sandalwood Mountain.In Hawaii, Kingston taught English at the state university and at Mid-P

26、acific Institute, a private school; in her spare time, she wrote. When The Woman Warrior was published in 1976 and became an immediate and unqualified success, she retired from teaching and devoted her energies to writing. China Men, which relates the ordeals of the male members of Kingstons family

27、in America, appeared in 1980, followed by Hawaii One Summer (1987), a collection of twelve prose selections. In 1989, she published Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book, her first traditionally structured novel, in which she tells the fictitious story of Whitman Ah Sing, a Chinese American living in Ber

28、keley, California, during the counter-culture 1960s, with its hippies, tie-dyed tee-shirts, and drug addiction. The energetic adventures of Whitman Ah Sing, whose name evokes images of the American poet Walt Whitman and his refrain phrase “I sing”“Ah Sing”reveal the protagonists unease about his rol

29、e and future in America.Kingston is a frequent commentator and guest speaker at academic conferences and cultural events across the country, and she has often found it necessary to write articles defending The Woman Warrior, explaining herself and rebutting some critics who feel that the famous auto

30、biography focuses too much on exotic Chinese history and not enough on the day-to-day racism that Chinese Americans face in American society. To these charges, Kingston responds that she is not trying to represent Chinese culture; she is portraying her own experiences.2) The introduction to her work

31、s(1)The Woman WarriorThe Woman Warrior focuses on the stories of five womenKingstons long-dead aunt, No-Name Woman; a mythical female warrior, Fa Mu Lan; Kingstons mother, Brave Orchid; Kingstons aunt, Moon Orchid; and finally Kingston herselftold in five chapters. The chapters integrate Kingstons lived experience with a series of talk-storiesspoken stories that combine Chinese history, myths, and beliefsher mother tells her.The first chapter, No-Name Woman, begins with one such ta