從後殖民到全球化：華人英文小說的抗爭與契機

From Postcolonial to Global: English Fiction as a Voice of Resistance and Opportunity for Chinese Novelists

近二十年來，越來越多中國或香港作家捨棄中文母語，改採英文創作小說。他們並非華裔美人（American-born Chinese），學習英文的過程也歷盡艱辛，但最後卻使用英文創作，並在美國文學界取得一席之地。本文將援引哈特與納格利之社會學論著《帝國》並結合巴赫汀複調小說理論以及瓦特《小說的興起》觀察「英文」在全球化時代逐漸從殖民語言走向世界語言的過程，並且分析文學主流自史詩及典詩詞轉向十八世紀小說，直至今日文學商品化，並進一步融入全球市場的變化，試圖從較為宏觀之角度，解釋為何許多中國、香港小說家捨棄中文，改採英文創作小說的原因與整體環境。文中藉由剖析哈金、王蕤等作家成功的經驗為例，綜論中國小說家改採英文書寫小說的新趨勢，藉以詮釋當前資本流動、重商主義與文學商品化等全球化現象，並觀察未來「中國文學」或「美國文學」等民族文學之疆界逐漸模糊，蛻變為世界文學的可能。

Over the past two decades, more and more novelists from the P.R.C. and Hong Kong chose to write in English instead of their mother tongue. Unlike the earlier Chinese American novelists who were born and raised in the U.S., most of these new converts are non-English native speakers who had undergone severe ordeals in acquiring the language. Despite their previous language impotence, they energetically endeavored to overcome the obstacles and finally received worldwide plaudits for their works. This paper, applying the socioeconomic theories of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri and the theories of novel of Mikhail Bakhtin and Ian Watt, contextualizes the transformation of the recent Chinese converts in the framework of globalization. Ha Jin and Annie Wang are touchstones to exemplify their unique entrance into a new era of global literatures. The argument is divided into two main categories. First, the resistance of the Chinese writers against their homeland under the shelter of the U.S. is connected with the transition of the world order to the polycentric bio-politics of globalization. Second, the trend for transnational writers, especially the Chinese, to adopt English as their means of creative writing, especially fiction, is analyzed within the structure of global market and capitalism.