从后殖民主义视角分析《典型的美国人》中华裔身份认同问题

On Interpreting Cultural Identity of Chinese Immigrants in TYPICAL AMERICAN from the Perspective of Post-colonialism

摘  要：1991年，美籍华裔女作家任碧莲发表了她的第一部长篇小说《典型的美国佬》。小说主要描写了张家人在纽约的经历和在美国社会中建构文化身份的过程。由拉尔夫•张、姐姐特雷萨、妻子海伦组成的张家人满怀梦想和希望相继来到美国。起初，他们一心维护中国传统文化，蔑视美国的文化和价值观。后来他们被美国主流文化所同化。文化身份一直以来都是华裔美国文学中的主题，严格来说，华裔美国文学并不属于后殖民文学。然而，华裔移民及其后代被西方中心话语排斥和压迫，经历了一定的文化殖民。本文在后殖民语境下解读《典型的美国佬》，探讨小说中张家人文化身份的建构，指出文化身份并不是一成不变的，而是在不同的中西方文化背景下流变建构而成。论文还重点分析了如何抵制这种民族边缘化和如何重新定义美国文化杂糅的属性，进而为当前全球文化融合背景下种族面临的身份建构与文化困惑问题，提供了全新的研究视野。 

关键词：后殖民主义；典型的美国佬；文化身份；建构

Abstract: Gish Jen, a Chinese American female writer, published her first novel Typical American in 1991. The novel mainly describes the experience of the Changs in New York and the process of constructing cultural identity in American society. The Changs, composed of Ralph Chang, Theresa and Helen, came to America with dreams and hopes successively. At first, they maintained traditional culture and despised American culture and values. Later, they were assimilated by the mainstream culture of the United States. Cultural identity has always been the theme of Chinese American literature. In strict terms, Chinese American literature does not belong to the post-colonial literature. However, Chinese immigrants and their descendants were excluded and oppressed by the western central discourse, and experienced cultural colonization to a certain extent. This paper interprets the Typical American in the post-colonial context, explores the construction of the Changs' cultural identity in this novel, and points out that cultural identity is not static but fluid in different cultural backgrounds between China and the West. This paper also analyzes how to resist the national marginalization and how to redefine the cultural attributes of hybridity. It provides a new research perspective for cultural identity and cultural aporia problems of the race under the background of the current global cultural confusion.

Key Words: post-colonialism; typical American; cultural identity; construction