东方主义视角下的《喜福会》研究_英语论文

A Study of The Joy Luck Club From the Perspective of Orientalism

摘要

《喜福会》是美国著名华裔女作家谭恩美的第一部长篇小说，成为1989年美国四大畅销书之一，也是她的成名作。小说包括16个互相交织的小故事，展示了中国母亲和她们美国出生的女儿之间的文化冲突。

然而，阅读小说读者可以发现，谭恩美在一定程度上疏远，扭曲甚至妖魔化中国，中国人民和中国文化。根据萨义德的后殖民主义理论，东方主义，本文试图分析东方主义在此书中的构建并探讨谭恩美出现这种负面看法的可能原因。希望通过本课题，读者可以更好地理解原著和作者。

关键词:《喜福会》；东方主义；中国；谭恩美

Abstract

The Joy Luck Club is the first novel written by Amy Tan who is an Asia American woman writer. As one of the America’s four best-selling books in 1989, it is regarded as Tan’s masterpiece. The novel includes sixteen interwoven short stories, which show the cultural conflicts between Chinese mothers and their America-born daughters.

However, after reading the novel, readers may find that The Joy Luck Club, to some extent, alienates, distorts and even demonizes China, Chinese people and Chinese culture. Based on Said’s postcolonial theory, orientalism, this paper attempts to analyze how Orientalism is constructed in the book and explores the possible reasons for Amy’s negative view. It is hoped that through this paper, readers will have a better understanding of the novel and the author. 

Key words: The Joy Luck Club  Orientalism  China  Amy Tan