The Semiotics of China Narratives in Kingston and Tan

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1、TheSemioticsofChinaNarrativesintheCon/textsofKingstonandTanYUANYl:ANHow'Chinese'isTheWomanWarrior?"Sau-lingCynthiaWongasksinheressay"Kingston'sHandlingofTraditionalChineseSources"(27).Thenative•nessofethnicAmericanliteratureisacomplexissuethatdeservesseriouscon•siderationandintelligent

2、discussion.Ihavenoticedthattodateitisnotthenativenessofourethnicnarrativesthathasescapedcriticalattentionbutthenar•rativereconflgurationofnativenessinliteraryrepresentation.Thatistosay.thewholeissueofnativenessinliterarytextsrequirescarefulexaminationinthecon•textofculturaldifferencesa

3、ndinrelationtosubjectpositions.Inthisessay.[explorethetheoreticalimplicationsofthat"native"issuebyinquiringintothesemioticsof"Chinaexperiences"intermsof"Chinanarratives"withinthecon•textsofMaxineHongKingston'sTheWtIllUI/IWarriorandChinaMenandAmyTan'sThejorLlIckCfuhandTheKitchellCod'sWi

4、je.The"Chinaexperiences"presentedbyKingstonandTanemergeasnarrativesofrecollection-whichmeansthatintheirnovelstheyhavereconstructedvari•ousnarrativesofexperiencesinChinaagainstthebackgroundofAmericansoci•etyandwithinthecontextofAmericanculture.TheirChinanarrativesemergeinthe"other"cultu

5、ralcontextinformedbyacomplexprocessoftranslation,trans•location,andtransfigurationoftheoriginalexperiencesinChina.Infact,Chinaexperiencesaregenerallytransfiguredinto"Chinanarratives"onlyaftertheyhavelosttheirreferencetoChina:thustheyarerelatedmoretothepresentAmer•icansituationthantothe

6、iroriginalcontextinChinesesociety.ThepresentAmer•icancontextprovidesmeaninganddeterminesthecontentoftheChinanarrative.OnlyLInderslIchcircumstancesaslossoforigincanChinaexperiencesemergeasaChinanarrative-atextreconfiguredwithinothercontexts."Chinanarra•tive,"therefore,differsfromChinaex

7、periencesandsignifiesaspecifickindof292CRITIQUECopyright©1999.Allrightsreserved.self-reflexivediscoursethatisreinscrihedwithinanotherculturalcontexttoservespecificpurposes:self-affirmationorself-negation,remembranceorrepression.Eventually,inthenovelsofhothKingstonandTan.Chinaasageogr