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. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / May 7, 2014. / Cultural Identity, Diaspora, Identity Crisis, Illegitimacy / Includes bibliographical references. / Feng Lan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen Erndl, University Representative; William Cloonan, Committee Member; Yanning Wang, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_254527 |
| Contributors | Zhai, Wenyang (authoraut), Lan, Feng (professor directing dissertation), Erndl, Kathleen (university representative), Cloonan, William (committee member), Wang, Yanning (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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