華裔作品再現之中國民族性與文化詮釋－－以「龍門」、「龍翼」為例

The Reinterpretation of Chinese Ethnicity and Culture in the Works of Overseas Chinese Authors –Using Dragonwings and Dragon's Gate as Examples

根據研究顯示，在二十世紀二０~七０年代，由於東方主義與文化霸權的影響，東西方之間，常因語言的疏離、文化的隔膜，使得華人有被錯誤呈現並大量複製的現象。西方以他們的角度來銘刻與解讀中國，形成了一些偏見。這樣的現象在世界著名的「紐伯瑞兒童文學獎」（Newbery Medal）得獎作品中也曾出現。此篇論文主要探討華裔作家葉祥添 (Laurence Yep)的作品—「龍翼」（Dragonwings,1976）與「龍門」（Dragon’s Gate,1994）。這兩部作品同是「紐伯瑞兒童文學獎」的得獎之作，作品中，有濃烈的中國文化色彩。他不但企圖重新詮釋華人形象，消解西方對華人的刻板印象，也藉由情節的鋪展、人物的刻劃，演繹中華文化，並強烈表達族群和諧、文化共容共享的深切期盼。現今這個社會，多元文化的觀點已普遍為世人所接受。但回顧過去，葉祥添在美國兒童文學界對華裔族群所做的努力，致力書寫中華文化的精神，值得被記憶與肯定。

Studies have revealed that between 1920s and 1970s of the Twentieth Century, the influence of orientalism and cultural hegemony has resulted in a lot of misinterpretation of the Chinese people. This was often caused by the differences in languages and cultural segregation. The Western perspective of interpreting Chinese culture has created a stereotype. Unfortunately, such phenomenon seemed inevitable in Newberry Medal winning articles as well. This thesis will primarily focuses on the works of a Chinese writer Laurence Yep, which include ‘Dragonwings (1979)’ and ‘Dragon’s Gate (1994).’ Those two literatures were awarded with the Newberry Medal, and both revealed strong Chinese characteristics. Thru his works, Yep did not only attempt to reshape the image and the stereotype that the West have on the Chinese people, he also strongly expressed his desire for cultural harmony. The idea of dynamic culture is now widely accepted by the society nowadays. In retrospective, however, the contributions of Laurence Yep’s works for the Chinese in American children’s literature deserve its remembrance and acknowledgement.