A New Historicist Reading Of Ha Jin's The Bridegroom

As the first Chinese American writer who has ever been awarded two Pen/Faulkner Awards and a National Book Award,Ha Jin distinguishes himself from other contemporary Chinese American writers in writing Chinese stories in English.Most of his works are set in the fictional Muji City in China,depicting the life of common people during a certain period.In his works,texts can truthfully reflect reality to some extent while his historical writing has its own distinctive characteristics.By intertwining history and texts,Ha Jin provides a new dimension for modern people to reflect on the past and meditate on the present in his works.A deep exploration of his works from the perspective of New Historicism will help readers better understand his historical writing.Taking Ha Jin's The Bridegroom as an example,this thesis will examine how Ha Jin represents the past and reconstructs his own interpretation of the history which he personally experienced from the perspective of New Historicism.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One is the introduction part which includes a brief review of Ha Jin and his works,the literature review of The Bridegroom,and the significance and structure of the thesis.Chapter Two is a brief introduction of New Historicism as the thesis' s theoretical framework.The key concepts of “historicity of texts” “textuality of history” “power and discourse”“subversion and containment” will also be introduced.In Chapter Three,thehistoricity of The Bridegroom is discussed.First,the influence of Ha Jin's life experience on the creating of The Bridegroom is expounded.Second,the thesis tries to indicate that The Bridegroom is influenced not only by Ha Jin's life experience but also by the historical and social situation of that certain period in China.The thesis presents four social aspects of early-reform period in China reflected in The Bridegroom,namely tiger-beating heroism,criminalizing homosexuality,encouraging private enterprises and attracting foreign investment.At last,the influence of The Bridegroom on history and society is elaborated.Chapter Four intends to present the textuality of history in The Bridegroom.By writing the discourses of the marginalized in The Bridegroom,Ha Jin textualizes the history in the story collection.By analyzing the multiple types of power and the subversion and containment in The Bridegroom,we can have a glimpse of Ha Jin's own way of interpreting the history,which further shows the textuality of history.Ha Jin's first-person narration in constructing these discourses and his English writing of these discourses further stress the textuality of history in The Bridegroom.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis.On one hand,The Bridegroom is not only influenced by Ha Jin's life experience and the historical and social context in which it is produced,but also influences in turn the shaping of history and society.On the other hand,the history in The Bridegroom has its nature of textuality.The Bridegroom displays a significant historical dimension in society.