The Transformation And Discursive Construction Of Ewenki Literature

In the literary history of Ewenki nationality, Wure’ertu is an important and the most representative writer. His great contribution to contemporary Ewenki literature and his influence in the field of contemporary Chinese literature have made him an incomparable figure among the contemporary Ewenki writers. However, his literary thoughts and works have not received enough attention by the contemporary Chinese literature critics, and his transformational effort in writing is even farther from being well noticed and explored. Based on the Ewenki literary practice represented by Wure’ertu and the available history of research, the thesis starts from the perspective of Cultural Discourse Studies to build on a case study of Wure’ertu. It takes into consideration history and intercultural context for an integrated research of the subject, content/form, media and effect of the discourse. The aim of this thesis is to make a profound, systematic and multi-dimensional re-exploration of the transformation of Ewenki literature represented by Wure’ertu. Taking the perspective of Cultural Discourse Studies(CDS), the paper tries to revaluate the contemporary minority literature as a "cultural discourse", shackling off the traditional mode of literary criticism, and see its significance in the intertwined relations of culture, society, politics and economics, and find a place for it in Chinese literature and the world literature as well.The thesis includes three parts, namely introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction explains the motivation for such a research topic and its status quo. It elaborates on the problems, purposes, meaning, methods and data collection in this research of ethnic minority literature from the perspective of CDS. Based on that, it states that this kind of research broadens the vision of ethnic minority literature study, injects new vitality to the theory of literary criticism of ethnic minority literature and gives much valuably reference for the future practice of criticism.The body of this thesis comprises four chapters. Chapter one discusses Ewenki’s history, culture and custom, and Ewenki literature’s development and status. It also sums up Wure’ertu’s works and probes into the marginal literature and its renascence as well. Generally, this part lays a solid foundation for the following specific study.Chapter two includes two sections. From the view of discoursive subject, the thesis combines the diachronic longitudinal study with the synchronic horizontal comparaive study to discuss Ewenki literature represented by Wure’ertu and to discover the path of its writers transformation, generally, from the recognition of the collective mainstream culture toward the evolution of minor cultural awareness. Besides, this chapter makes a comparison between Wure’ertu’s and Chi Zijian’s Ewenki narrative, which reveals that they are concerned with different cultural identities as an ethnic minority writer and a non-ethnic minority writer while doing with the same discourse-the extinctive Ewenki culture. The analysis shows that ethnic literary subjects are not unitarily simple and rigid but multiple and dynamic: having both the internal narrative from within the minority and the external description as from an outsider; together with the rising subject cultural consciousness, having both the recognition of mainstream discourse in the early1980s and also the awakening consciousness of a national subject awareness since1990s. This process of change and development reflects the increasing complexity of being a subject. Moreover, the multiple and complex discursive subjects have jointly molded the subject image of minority literature, and hence a more profound and dynamic image of Chinese literature.Chapter three includes four sections. It tries to make a diachronic analysis on the works of Wure’ertu in the perspective of discursive content and form. In terms of discursive content, Wure’ertu’s writing experienced transformation in the new century, from fiction to history; and the transformation directs at the problem of ethnic cultural memory. From the view of discursive form, it implies a profound issue of cultural memory behind the narrative strategies of Chinese writing. As the study indicates, the difference in discursive content between Wure’ertu’s early and late works leads to varying discursive forms, which actually conforms to the changing process of his identity as an ethnic minority subject from being veiled to being self-conscious. The above-mentioned two aspects have not been stepped into in the preceding studies, but they are of great significance to deeply understanding Wure’ertu’s transformation as well as the discursive transformation and construction of the entire Ewenki literature.Chapter four is divided into two sections. In the perspective of discursive effect it lays emphasis on the aspects of readers’ response and media effect. The chapter tries to compare Wure’ertu’s and Chi Zijian’s Ewenki narrative in terms of their quantities of publishing/sale, awarding, media application and readers’ comments. Then on the basis of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis, with the latter playing the main role, this part also studies how ethnic minority is being read, as a discursive phenomenon. The study demonstrates that ethnic minority literature has been marginalized in term of its academic recognition, readership, media publicity, social influence and so on, compared with Han literature. And this kind of disparity and power influence are actually found throughout the whole process of production and consumption of ethnic minority literature discourse.Finally, on the basis of concluding Ewenki literature as a "discourse", this ending mainly makes a reflection on the whole ethnic minority literature. Firstly, as a form of discourse, ethnic minority literature does not exist in isolation, but in the literature network of Chinese and world nationalities, mutually blending and impacting. Secondly, more encouragement should be approved to the literature creation of "Han’s writing about minorities" and cross-nationality narrative, so as to enrich the meaning of ethnic minority literature discourse. Meanwhile, more concern and reflection should be given to ethnic minorities’ cultural ecology and living conditions in China and even the world under the background of globalization. Thirdly, for the development of ethnic minority literature, it is encouraged to make full use of the communication means of this new media age to publicize the information about ethnic minority literature in multiple dimensions, and promote its translation so as to have ethnic minority literature actively participate in communication on the stage of literature in China and even the whole world.