On The Memory Writing Of Sky Lee’s Disappearing Moon Café

Disappearing Moon Café is a semi-autobiographical epic work by Sky Lee,a Chinese-Canadian writer.It is also the first Chinese-Canadian full-length English novel,which is of milestone significance.From the outside to the inside,the novel presents the process of the author Sky Lee exploring ethnic history,constructing memory space,and reproducing national culture,as well as the experience of the novel protagonist Woo Kae Ying tracing her family’s past,reshaping the true memory,and exploring a new identity construction.As a result,the novel has formed two major memory dimensions of nation and family from macro to micro,and the two are intertwined to create a multi-level memory picture.Based on memory theory,supplemented by multiple considerations such as history,affection and ethics,this thesis conducts an in-depth analysis and interpretation of the memory writing of the novel,in order to understand the colorful art world constructed by the novel and the value pursuit reflected behind it.The preface mainly reviews the historical situation of Chinese-Canadian English literature,the basic information of Sky Lee’s literary career and her work Disappearing Moon Café,a review of research at home and abroad,and the gist of memory theory.Chapter one discusses the macroscopic level of national memory in the work.In the novel,the author constantly awakens and recreates the historical memories of overseas Chinese and the affectionate Chinese memories.From the past history and daily reflection of the native cultural elements in a foreign country,the internal connection between the Chinese-Canadian identity and its own national history and culture is emphasized,thereby stimulating profound national feelings,enhancing the identity of the Chinese ethnic group,and rallying the collective strength of the Chinese people.Chapter two discusses family memory at the microscopic level in the work.The novel presents the secret ethical traumatic memories of the Wong family and their tragedy in the form of postmemory.These memories,together with the growth memories of the narrator Kae Ying in the writer’s history,constitute the whole picture of the collective memory of the family,which makes the ideological spirit and real life of the memory subject Kae Ying have made a qualitative leap,thus constructing a new type of Chinese Canadian cultural identity in the present age.Chapter three discusses the value and shortcomings of memory writing.The memory writing of the novel not only embodies the revisionary and self-examinational function of literary memory,but also highlights the identity expectation of the Chinese-Canadian community in pursuit of diversity and unity in combination with the contemporary social and historical context.However,the author herself is also constrained by her identity,which inevitably leads to certain shortcomings in her memory writing.In conclusion,Sky Lee solves the identity problems that have long plagued Chinese Canadians in the form of memory writing,and called on contemporary Chinese Canadians to first build self-subjectivity based on the historical and cultural roots of ethnic groups,and then fully recognize their past,present and future in a pluralistic society,and find the harmony of their hearts guided by dynamic and free identity.