Immigration, Nationalism, and Suicide: Pai Hsien-yung and Pai Ching-jui's Chinese Obsessions and American Dreams

Immigration, Nationalism, and Suicide: Pai Hsien-yung and Pai Ching-jui's Chinese Obsessions and American Dreams

從白色恐怖到中共的威脅，戒嚴時期的台灣從許多角度來看是個充滿壓抑的年代。而且在當時台灣經濟起飛和美國通俗文化流入的背景之下，眾多人開始往外看，留學或移民美國便變成大家最嚮往的事。為了順應讀者對美國的好奇心，六○年代便開始出現所謂「留學生文學」。在往後的二十餘年劉紹銘（二殘）、劉大任、郭松棻、張系國、三毛等人的海外經驗和他們作品中所表現的海外想像，變成許多讀者非常關心和嚮往的一個文學地標。在這群作家當中較具影響力與深度的白先勇，描繪中國人在海外經歷過的甜酸苦辣的一系列短篇小說。其中〈謫仙記〉、〈芝加哥之死〉和後來被稱為《紐約客》系列的其它作品在文學領域已經被公認為當代華文文學的經典，除此以外這些作品在塑造台灣讀者對美國的想像上起了相當大的影響。 到了七○年代留學生文學帶動「留學生電影」的新潮流，然而在白景瑞等導演的作品中所表現的美國與白先勇作品相當不同。本篇試圖透過白先勇的兩篇短篇小說與白景瑞一九七○年所拍攝的《家在台北》的閱讀與分析來探討六○與七○年代的台灣對美國的文化想像。從二位創作者的感時憂國（夏志清語）到作品中的不同美國（惡）夢，本篇將把作品中對離散、愛國主義、歷史創傷與自殺情節的不同呈現，當作理解台灣文化對美國想像的一個轉折點。

From the “White Terror” to the threat of “Red China,” the Martial Law period in Taiwan can be seen as an age marred by a multitude of social and political anxieties. As Taiwan grew into its role as one of the four Asian Tigers and American culture flooded the island, many people began to look to the outside and foreign study or immigration to America became the aim for a new generation of Chinese living in Taiwan. In order to quench Taiwan readers' thirst for knowledge about the country that had taken “Free China” under its wings during the Cold War period, the 1960s saw the rise of “overseas student literature” (liuxuesheng wenxue). For the next two decades the works of writers like Joseph Lau (publishing under the penname Er Can), Liu Daren, Guo Songfen, S.K. Chang, San Mao and other writers with overseas experience became a key literary site for countless readers looking to understand or even vicariously experience the West. Among this group of works portraying Chinese living overseas, some of the most reflective, powerful, and influential came from the pen of Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung, whose short stories about the challenges and dreams of this generation appeared in the collection The New Yorker (Niuyue ke). These stories, including such works as “Li T'ung: A Chinese Girl in New York” (“Zhe xian ji”) and “Death in Chicago” (Zhijiage zhi si”) have become regarded as classics of modern Chinese fiction for their stylistic refinement and deep reflection on the human condition. At the same time, these works have played a crucial role in how America has been constructed and imagined by Taiwanese (and later mainland Chinese) readers. By the 1970s “overseas student literature” gave rise to a new phenomena – “overseas student films” (liuxuesheng dianying). However, in the films of Pai Ching-jui – one of the innovators of this new cinematic genre – the image of America portrayed is quite different. This article attempts to use readings and analysis of Pai Hsien-yung's American fiction and Pai Ching-jui's 1970 film Home Sweet Home (Jia zai Taibei) to explore popular representation of America in Taiwan cultural production during the 1960s and 1970s. From C.T. Hsia's “Obsession with China” to what might be termed an “Obsession with America,” or perhaps a longing for an “American dream,” this article will explore the themes of Diaspora, nationalism, historical trauma, as well as the “suicide complex” the appears in several of the works as a window for better understanding this crucial turning point in Taiwan's cultural imagination of America and the crisis consciousness lurking within.