Narrative Art’s Theme Construction In M.butterfly And Yellow Face

David Henry Hwang(1957-)is one of the most influential Chinese-American playwrights.In 1988,his M.Butterfly wins the Tony Award for best play,and in 2008 Yellow Face wins the Obie Award.Although the two works were written in different historical periods,both of them are Hwang’s artistic practices that blend Asian-American’s appeal with Western drama.M.Butterfly tells the story of the French embassy staff member Gallimard and Song Liling has leaked state secrets to the Chinese government for more than two decades.Yellow Face as a semi-autobiographical drama tells the story of David Henry Hwang’s struggle to protest against the “yellow face” chaos in the American performing arts circle and the U.S.government’s investigation of Hwang’s father and the false accusations against Dr.Wen Ho Lee in the panic of “yellow peril”.Through a close reading of these two works,this paper finds that M.Butterfly and Yellow Face have different ends,but both of them has reflected the survival of Asians in Western capitalist countries.M.Butterfly and Yellow Face are narrative drama works,and the academic research of these two works is mainly from the perspective of orientalism and post-colonialism theory analysis,the theme construction of the drama narrative research is seldom touched.Therefore,it is necessary to make a deep comparative study of the narrative art of the two plays.The dramatic narratology,which originated in the 1980 s,is a critical perspective based on structural linguistics and formalistic literary criticism,which takes drama text and performance system as the research objects.Yan Chengying and Li Qibin,scholars of Chinese drama narrative studies,put forward three layers of drama narrative structure for the study of drama texts,that is,the story and text,the narrative sound and the text narrative strategy to study separately.Through the analysis of story,it is found that the protagonists have the crisis of cultural adaptation and ethical conflict.Through the analysis of the narrative subject,it is found that both works adopt the covert and overt narrative voice,so as to bring a sense of confusion to the audience.Through the analysis of text structure,it is found that both works adopt the narrative strategy of non-linear narrative and the peculiar narrative structure,thus forming the absurd artistic effect.Through the analysis of narrative art of the two works,the author finds that the characters of Asian dramatists represented by David Henry Hwang are on the edge of society in the chaotic and absurd modern society.In the face of this crisis,David Henry Hwang’s characters are from lost to acceptance,from suicide to singing together,from tragic ending to comedic ending.David Henry Hwang proposes that Asian Americans should neglect their minority ethnic identity,and make the whole world a harmonious community.By doing so they will dispel the chaos and absurdity of modern society.This attempt gives modern people a more grand and inclusive perspective to face the current situation of isolation and division in society.