第26章多种族文学（2）
I.Fill in the blanks.
1.The most famous of the Asian American writers is_____,whose The Woman Warrior:Memories of a Childhood among Ghosts won_____for nonfiction for 1976and established her as a preeminent contemporary American writer.
【答案】Maxine Hong Kingston,the National Books Critics Circle Award
【解析】美国最著名的亚裔作家是汤婷婷（Maxine Hong Kingston），她的第一部作品是回忆录式的小说《女勇士》（The Woman Warrior:memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts），此书于1976年出版后，获当年美国全国书评界奖。
这部作品的文学成就和热销的程度在美国文学史上是空前的。
她从而蜚声美国文坛。
2.Another important Asian American writer is Amy Tan,whose first novel,_____, made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.【答案】The Joy Luck Club
【解析】著名华裔美国女作家谭恩美（Amy Tan）的第一部小说《喜福会》一经出版就在美国文坛上引起很大轰动，并引起读者和评论家们对亚裔美国文学的强烈关注。
3.The four parts of The Joy Luck Club are:_____,_____and_____.
【答案】“Feathers From a Thousand Li Away”,“The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates”,“American Translation”,“Queen Mother of the Western Skies”
【解析】谭恩美的小说《喜福会》分为四部分“千里鹅毛”（“Feathers From a Thousand Li Away”），“二十六扇凶门”（“The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates”），“美国翻译”（“American Translation”），“西方天空的母后”（“Queen Mother of the Western Skies”）。
II.Essay question
1.Analysis of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Key:Amy Tan’s first novel The Joy Luck Club made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.
It is intriguing in both thematic and formal ways.Thematically,it is a story of eight women of two generation from four families telling their separate stories, stories that share something in common as a connective tissue between them.It consists of four parts,each of which begins with a vignette,or prologue,a brief italicized statement,narrated by one of the four mothers,which indicates the theme of the section.A dividing line can be drawn between the two generations of women.The mothers on one side tell their stories of their experiences in China while the daughters talk about their lives in America.The relationships between the mothers and their daughters are strained and even confrontational at times not only because of the generation gap but also mainly as a result of their different upbringing and cultural experiences.The talk-stories ultimately bridge the gap and represent the efforts of the American-born daughters to understand
and come to term with their Chinese heritage.
The formal aspect of the book is interesting to talk about,too.The sixteen stories are all narrated in the first person,two by each of the eight characters except in the case of Jin-mei,who tells four stories,two of her own,and two of her mother’s.The multiplicity of the voices seems to be dazzling,but is stimulating to the imagination.And there is little or no sense of dislocation between the different sections.Everything falls in place in due time and fits well into the general scheme of things.
2.In Natachee Scott Momaday’s The Ancient Child,the main character is Locki Setman and this name needs appropriate explanation.Explain the meanings of the name in terms of Nordic,Egyptian and Kiowa religions.How does this name help us better appreciate the story?
Key:The name“Locki Setman”needs to be explained in terms of Nordic, Egyptian and Kiowa religions.“Locki”is the god of mischief who has been trapped until the Nordic doomsday,the Ragnorak.“Set”is the ancient Egyptian god of storms and disorder.“Set”is also the Kiowa Bear which represents introspection.These several cultural and mythic attributes enrich the allegorical significance of Locki Setman.He is a Kiowa trapped in a white man’s world,a trickster figure haunting his white stepfather and girlfriend,and also an introspective character rediscovering his identity.
3.In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony,Tayo is traumatized during the war. When he returns to the Laguna Pueblo reservation,he still feels estranged.What does he do to accomplish a real return that gives him the complete healing? Key:Tayo thus begins a search back to the mythical past,to the ancient stories which have nurtured his people.The search itself has become a curative ceremony that is inclusive of many legends and mythical figures.This is a ceremony which re-integrates Tayo’s self and re-impresses on his fragmented psyche the whole mythic pattern of the culture hero and his quest.In this sense, Tayo becomes the hero and his sickness becomes the sickness suffered by his people.
4.How many linked stories are there in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine?Who are the two main female characters?What do we learn from the lives of the two women and their love rivalry about the struggles of the Chippewas?
Key:There are18linked stories in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine.
The two focal characters are two women,Lulu Larmatine and Marie Kashpaw.
Through the histories of their family relations and sexual rivalry(both women have been in love with the same man Nector Kashpaw),many moving stories are told,stories of cultural identity lost and found,stories of trying to survive in a world where Manifest Destiny has left Native Americans with very little resources, and stories of reviving the wisdom and strength of。
