A Postmodernistic Approach To Brian Castro’s Two Novels

Brian Castro is one of the brightest stars in contemporary literature circle. As a Chinese-Australian, more than half of his novels are based on China. He is a diasporic writer with postmodernistic writing features, with no exception in After China and The Garden Book. This thesis tries to analyze the postmodernistic writing features in Brian Castro’s these two novels. It contains five parts, that is, introduction, three chapters and conclusion.Introduction mainly includes the following four aspects: first, Brian Castro’s life and works; second, a brief introduction of After China and The Garden Book and their literature reviews in both China and abroad; third, postmodernism used in this thesis; fourth, the layout of this thesis.Chapter One discusses fragmentation, including three minor parts, namely, unchronological narrative, decentralization and multifaceted characterization. The three characteristics which are expressed in these two books respectively break orders and eliminate centers.Chapter Two is from another postmodernistic feature—uncertainty. Under it, uncertainty of identity, uncertainty of plot and uncertainty of language are three minor parts. Through these uncertainties, Brian Castro conveys his doubts over the cultural identity, even the whole world.Chapter Three is from the perspective of combined narrative strategy, including three minor parts, that is, narrative angle, narrative time and narrative structure. The application of the postmodern narrative strategies is not only an inheritance of tradition, but also an innovation. It is a kind of betrayal, also a deep thinking.The last part is conclusion. Based on the listed three chapters, the author will draw a conclusion and point out the real purpose of Brian Castro behind these postmodernistic features.