Author(s)

Liu Jiayi ¹, Zhang Jun ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ College of Liberal Arts, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Corresponding Author

Zhang Jun

ABSTRACT

In the novel Gunga Din Highway, Frank Chin deconstructs the traditional stereotypical image of Chinese Americans and reshapes a new type of Chinese American Ulysses. The novel focuses on the contrasting attitudes of two generations of the Kwan family towards the portrayal of the character Charlie Chen, providing a profound critique of the white depiction of Chinese American stereotypes. This article aims to analyze the protagonist Ulysses' dual traumas in his coming-of-age journey and examine how he establishes a new racial ideology and constructs a hybrid identity under the guidance of Longman Kwan's reverse leadership. Furthermore, it seeks to elucidate the author's viewpoint, which vehemently criticizes conforming to mainstream American culture, breaking stereotypes of Chinese people and inspiring cultural consciousness among ethnic minorities.

KEYWORDS

Gunga Din Highway; Frank Chin; trauma writing; guiding figure

CITE THIS PAPER

Liu Jiayi, Zhang Jun, A Study on the Cultural Trauma Writing of Ulysses and Guiding Figures in the Novel Gunga Din Highway. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2023) Vol. 6: 59-65. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2023.061309.

REFERENCES

[1] Wei Williams. (1993) The Asian American Movement. Temple UP, Philadelphia. 
[2] Zhang Longhai. (2006) Collage Scattered Narrative Parody Intertextuality—on the Post Modernist Writing Skills in Frank Chin's "Gunga Din Highway". Contemporary Foreign Literature, 3, 68-76. 
[3] Frantz Omar Fanon. (2005) Peau Noire, Masques Blancs. Yilin Press, Nanjing. 
[4] Frank Chin. (1994) Gunga Din Highway. Coffee House Press, Minneapolis. 
[5] Zhang Jun, Wei Zhuhan. (2020) Review of Contemporary American Minority Literature at Home and Abroad. JinGu Creative Literature, 12, 41-42+40. 
[6] Alexander, Jeffrey C. (2004) Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. 1-30. 
[7] Smelser N. J. (2004) Psychological Trauma and Cultural Trauma. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. 31-59. 
[8] Liang Zhiying. (2004) Racist Love, Racist Hate, and the Heroic Tradition of Chinese Americans. Translated by Zhang Ziqing. Gunga Din Highway. Frank Chin, Translated by Zhao Wenshu. Yilin Press, Nanjing. 
[9] Zhang Longhai. (2004) Lord Guan vs. Mulan—A Perspective of the Cultural Debate between Chinese American Writer Frank Chin and Maxine Hong Kingston. Foreign Literature Studies, 5, 95-101. 
[10] John Charles Goshert. (1999) Frank Chin is Not a Part of This Class! Excerpt from Migrating Bodies. Movements in Ethnic, Racial and Gender Discourses. Vanderbilt University, Narshville. 
[11] Xu Yingguo. (2008) A Study on Frank Chin's Writing [M]. Nankai University Press, Tianjin. 
[12] Song Jiashan. (2022) Me and the Horse: On Ulysses' Dynamic Identity Cognition in "Gunga Din Highway". Aesthetic, 6, 114-118.

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