A Comparative Study Of Androgynous Characteristics In Four Heroines By Pai Hsien-yung And Tennessee Williams

Pai Hsien-yung, hailed as the torchbearer of modern Chinese literature, hasenjoyed a prominent reputation both at home and abroad. His accomplishments as TaiPei People and New Yorkers established Pai as an excellent short story writer.Especially, of all the characters he created, the vividly depicted female charactersoccupied a pivotal position, thus serving as the frequent perspectives for academicresearch. Although belong to different collections, the heroines (Yin Hsueh-yen andLi T’ung) in The eternal snow beauty and Li T’ung: a Chinese girl in New York,shared a lot in common as they are endowed with masculine temperament.Tennessee Williams is one of the most outstanding playwrights in America.Nevertheless, his contribution as a short story writer has been much overshadowedand his short stories scarcely received critical attention. As a matter of fact, quite afew short stories serve as the inspirational material source for Williams’ importantplays. Tennessee Williams created lots of female characters that deeply touchedreaders’ hearts. Although belong to his early apprentice years, Gift of An Apple andThe Important Thing foreshadowed Williams’ signature style and literary techniques.Therefore, Williams’ short stories merit the due attention instead of being largelyignored.The present thesis aims at disclosing the common points between femalecharacters in short stories created by Pai and Williams—the constant interplay offeminity and masculinity, in other words, androgynous attributes. Through thestructural analysis of narrative techniques and the appreciation of poetics, theheroines’ androgynous characteristics are detected and unveiled. In addition, as thetwo writers are interested in exploring the life of the marginal, the female charactersendowed with androgynous features might as well be added to the marginal.Therefore, the thesis advances in selecting the literary genre which has beenpartially ignored—short story and in exhibiting the androgynous features in femalecharacters as well, thus enriching the collective of the marginal. The author expectsthe perspectives in the thesis could shed new light on the postmodernist study of Pai and Williams’ works, especially the female characters’ distinctiveness.