Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 The Issue of Illegitimacy: Writing in Diaspora Wenyang Zhai Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE ISSUE OF ILLEGITIMACY: WRITING IN DIASPORA By WENYANG ZHAI A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2014 Wenyang Zhai defended this dissertation on May 7 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: Feng Lan Professor Directing Dissertation Kathleen Erndl University Representative William Cloonan Committee Member Yanning Wang Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii To my parents, Zhai Qingkai and Liu Luqi iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to give my thanks to many people who have instructed, guided and supported me in various manners during my graduate studies and the entire time of the dissertation. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Feng Lan, the major professor of my dissertation committee. I benefited immeasurably from his academic advisement and patience and encouragement during my graduate study at Florida State University. The example he has set in his own scholarship, as well as the diligence, kindness and seriousness in his teaching and advising, has been a major influence in my graduate studies and will keep inspiring me in my future career. Dr. William Cloonan is among the first professors I got into contact since I started my Ph. D. program. He has provided me with valuable advice and unfailing support in both study and life throughout these years. I am thankful for his patient listening to my thoughts at the initial stage of my writing, the critical suggestions he gave me, and his meticulous reading of my early drafts. I am indebted to Dr. Kathleen Erndl for her constant encouragement and support, Dr. Lisa Wakamiya for her inspiring instruction and Dr. Yanning Wang for her kind acceptance of my request to be my advisor on a short notice and sharing with me her personal experiences to encourage me. I appreciate all the professors who I have taken classes with and all colleagues for their generous support, particularly, Rebecca Peters who has been a dear friend at my side. I want to avail this opportunity to thank the sisters and brothers at my church who have been praying for my dissertation writing and job hunting. I also want to thank my dearest mother and adorable son for their love and understanding. Without them, I would not have gone so far. iv Finally, my gratitude goes to God for He has done amazing works on me and has made all things work together for the good. Note on Romanization Transcriptions of Chinese in this dissertation follow the different romanization practices in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong whenever possible, but generally follow the pinyin system per scholarly convention in the United States. Except when specifically indicated, all publications in Chinese language that do not have published English translations, are mine. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Diaspora Studies ..................................................................................................................4 Chinese Diasporas ................................................................................................................6 Chinese Diasporic Literature ...............................................................................................9 The Issue of Illegitimacy ...................................................................................................11 Three Chinese Diasporic Writers .......................................................................................13 Diasporic Writing...............................................................................................................16 Organization .......................................................................................................................18 CHAPTER ONE: WRITING TO LEGITIMIZE THE ILLEGITIMACY— THE DISOWNED DAUGHTER..................................................................................................................................21 General Introduction ..........................................................................................................21 An Illegitimate Daughter and Her Mother .........................................................................30 An Illegitimate Writer and Her Characters ........................................................................45 CHAPTER TWO: THE FORCE OF ILLEGITIMACY: HA JIN’S INDIVIDUAL BATTLE IN DIASPORA....................................................................................................................................58 General Introduction ..........................................................................................................58 Between Silences ...............................................................................................................62 A Sober Observer ...............................................................................................................70 The Transformation ...........................................................................................................81 An Immigrant Writer .........................................................................................................85 A Humanistic Writer ..........................................................................................................89 CHAPTER THREE: MA JIAN—CLAIMING CENTER FROM THE MARGINAL .................96 General Introduction ..........................................................................................................96 The Noodles and the Maker—the Distorted Bodies ........................................................101 A Coma That is Hard to Wake up From ..........................................................................112 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................123 The Concept of Legitimacy .............................................................................................123 Rey Chow and Shih Shu-mei ..........................................................................................126 vi SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................138 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................146 vii ABSTRACT My dissertation explores the complicated role of “illegitimacy” in shaping the thoughts of three contemporary Chinese diasporic writers (Hong Ying, Ha Jin, and Ma Jian) and two diasporic intellectuals (Rey Chow and Shih Shu-mei). Similar to an illegitimate person who can hardly become a full member of a family or community, a diasporan can never quite belong to a host society. I thus use illegitimacy to highlight a keen sense of crisis of the diasporic subject who feels that his/her sociopolitical existence and its articulation are challenged as being inauthentic and ungrounded due to his/her displacement from the native land. Despite their different backgrounds and outlooks, the several writers in my study have shared the same experience of struggling with the anxiety that I term illegitimacy, whether literally, figuratively, or a combination of both, which is reflected in, as well as informs, their literary and critical works. However, they all strive to resolve the issue of illegitimacy through the act of writing. They raise new questions, change perspectives, challenge conventional moralities as their literary and philosophical visions evolve. The issue of illegitimacy, as a driving force, motivates as well as restrains these writers in constructing their literary and academic careers. viii INTRODUCTION In 2011, a Taiwanese film, Warrior of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale had an enormous box office success in Taiwan. The story of the film is based on the Wushe Incident of 1930, the aborigine Seediqs’ uprising against the Japanese colonizers. Early reaction to the film has noted its undertone of Taiwanese nationalism.1 There are two aboriginal young men who have been “civilized” by the Japanese, i. e. these two have gone to Japanese schools and work as Japanese policemen for the colonial government as the story unfolds. Right before the uprising day, Dakis Nomin or Ichiro Hanaoka, one of the two young men, comes to talk to Mona Rudao, the Seediq Chief, in the hope of persuading the Chief to abandon the uprising plan the next day. Mona Rudao confronts Dakis, “After you die, are you entering a Japanese shrine or the heavenly home of our ancestors?” Dakis leaves without giving a definite answer. The next day the tragedy occurs and a massacre takes place. Both of these two young men end up committing suicide with one hanging himself, the Seediq way,