A Study Of Tan Enmei 's Novels

Amy Tan is one of the Chinese American female writers, whose position should not be neglected in the history of American Chinese literature. She is good at describing the conflicts between mother and daughter. Her argument is that Chinese American women have to realize their self-value under the pressures of double cultural values. For this reason her novels have become bestsellers repeatedly, whose popularity has attracted attention from a big number of researchers.There are various approaches for the interpretation of Amy Tan’s novels. In exploring her techniques of narration, this dissertation shall take into account her novels as follows: The Joy Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Bonesetter’s Daughter. It is hoped that through a discussion of spatiotemporal structure, narrative voice, narrative structure and their synergy the effects of her writing approach can be revealed.The current dissertation includes four parts. Part 1 is a statement of the theories concerning narrative time and space. In particular, it explores the relationship between the circular and closed narrative time and the bouncing opposing narrative space and spatiotemporal ties. Part 2 starts with narrative voice, focusing on multiple narrative voices reflected in Amy Tan’s novels, such as the rebel voices of the daughter, the embarrassed and calm voices of mothers, and the self appeal of the marginal female. The analysis is intended to display the multiple narrative voices fused in her writings. Part 3 places emphasis on the “doll’s design” and bifurcated narrative structures, summarizing the diversity of her novels and a sense of hierarchy through perplexing clues. Part 4 analyzes the relationships between narrative space and time and narrative voice, between narrative voice and narrative structure, and between narrative structure and narrative space and time. It is hoped to indicate that the synergy of the three forces is a major feature of Amy Tan’s novel narration.