The "Survival And Wholeness"

The concept of"survival and wholeness"was originally put forward by the Afro-American woman writer Alice Walker in her book In Search of Our Mothers'Gardens (1983). It demonstrates an Afro-American womanist's concern for the survival and wholeness of the entire Afro-American community. In some postcolonial women's writing in English, the connotation of"survival and wholeness"is extended to include four levels of meanings: women's survival and wholeness; a nation's survival and wholeness; the survival and wholeness for a country; the survival and wholeness for the world. These four levels compose the essence of postcolonial womanism, which suggests that people from different genders, different nations should live in harmony with one another, and furthermore, mankind should live harmoniously with nature.Choosing four groups of women writers from four different postcolonial countries, this dissertation aims to summarize the general characteristics of postcolonial women's writing in each country through the study of related works.The dissertation consists of six parts. Chapter One is the Introduction. It begins with a definition of the two terms"postcolonial"and"postcolonial women's writing", then on the basis of an overall evaluation of postcolonial literary research done both within and without China, it offers a detailed explanation as to the purpose, research approach and potential significance of this dissertation. Finally, it compares postcolonial womanism with Western feminism and Afro-American womanism.Chapter Two presents an analysis of Joan Riley's novel The Unbelonging and points out that the major feature of black British women's fiction is the concern for the black migrant woman's survival and wholeness. As a representative of black women's writing, The Unbelonging demonstrates the hardships, both physical and cultural, that the black migrant woman encounters in her attempt to acquire her survival and wholeness,. The theme is highlighted by Riley's reformative use of the bildungsroman.Chapter Three is a study of two Australian Aboriginal women's life-stories—Sally Morgan's My Place and Ruby Langford Ginibi's Don't Take Your Love to Town, and assumes that the concern for a nation's survival and wholeness is the theme of the Aboriginal women's life-story. By rewriting the Aboriginal history in colonial period and deconstructing the Aboriginal stereotype set by Anglo-Celtic writers, the two books show that the Aboriginal people begin to represent themselves instead of being represented. The theme of a nation's survival and wholeness is emphasized through the two writers'creative use of the auto/biography.Chapter Four starts with an analysis of Toni Morrison's"history"trilogy, and then it moves on to demonstrate that the characteristic of contemporary Afro-American women's writing is the concern for the survival and wholeness of a country. In the trilogy, Morrison not only rewrites the American history from the Afro-American perspective, but also proposes, from the standpoint of the oppressed and colonized, that the black and the white should live in harmony with each other so that the country would obtain further development. The idea of a country's survival and wholeness is reinforced through Morrison's creative application of the Gothic.Chapter Five offers a discussion of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake, and suggests that the concern for the survival and wholeness of the world is the theme of contemporary Canadian women's writing. In these two novels, Atwood shows that environmental pollution and ecological crisis impose the greatest danger to man's survival, in other words, man's survival and wholeness depends upon nature's survival and wholeness. The proposal that man and nature should live in harmony with each other embodies postcolonial women writers'commitment and sense of mission, and a critique of anthropocentrism as well. By transforming the traditional science fiction into postmodern science fiction, Atwood expresses her misgivings about the world.Chapter Six is the Conclusion. It first of all illustrates the relationship between postcolonial women writers and the traditional novel, and suggests that the creative application of different genres by women writers is consistent with what Bill Ashcroft termed as the postcolonial"abrogation and appropriation". Then this dissertation compares postcolonial womanism with Western humanism, and points out that the former, while extending the latter's humanist concern, avoids the limitations of the latter. The two terms"postcolonialism"and"postmodernism"are often regarded as similar, however, this dissertation shows that they stand for two different ideologies. Last but not least, the future trend of postcolonial women's writing is predicted. Although postcolonial women writers have so far achieved remarkable success, they still face the problem of"survival and wholeness"in Western literary circle.