Neither-nor or both-and: A study of Chinese American writers.

摘要

What is a Chinese American? A Chinese? An American? Or both? Or neither? This seemingly easy question is hard to answer in terms of history, culture, ethnicity and literature. In order to provide an answer to this question, the Chinese American writers review history, redefine autobiography, rewrite mythology and also revolt against the orthodox convention of literary canon. By transforming from a historical to a historicist discourse to review history, from an intra-personal to an inter-personal discourse to redefine autobiography, and from a mythological to a mythopoetical discourse to rewrite mythology, these writers are endeavoring to transform the reading and writing of Chinese American literature from an American Orientalist to a Chinese American discourse. As a consequence, the question of "What is a Chinese American?" is transformed into a description of "What a Chinese American is."