Abstract
The Hundred Secret Senses is one of Amy Tan’s most acclaimed novels. This paper attempts to study the representations and subversion of Orientalism from the perspective of Said’s post-colonial theory. By depicting the protagonist Kwan’s marginality as the Other, exotic images of Chinese, Amy Tan actually reinforces the negative stereotype of the Chinese in the version of Orientalism. But her efforts to subvert and transcend Orientalism cannot be neglected. Amy Tan develops her writing strategies to challenge the mechanism of the American mainstream and subvert the stereotypes of Chinese. Kwan’s exotic and rebellious voices also act as a powerful weapon to break the silent stereotype and to fight against western language hegemony. And the Oriental representative Kwan functions as an active guider for her spiritually-lost sister Olivia. The limitation of Chinese American writers’ double identities inevitably covers their works with veils of Orientalism, but Amy Tan’s novels are imbued with superb artistic techniques to subvert and transcend it. The co-existence and co-benefit of different cultures and beliefs could be the consideration for Amy Tan’s wish in presenting this novel.
Highlights
The Chinese American writer Amy Tan proves herself to be a most distinguished one
Because of multiple settings employed in this novel—twentieth century San Francisco in America and Guilin in China interwoven with the Taiping Rebellion in 19th century China, Ma Sheng-mei holds that the success of this novel lies in “a New Age Ethnicity mongrelized with primitivism”, such as the profusion of mission scenes and exotic banditry from the Taiping Rebellion, which appeals to westerner's long-held view of Asian and Asia and satisfied the westerner's curiosity about the Oriental.” (Ma, 2000, p. xx-ii)
Amy Tan is unconsciously reinforcing the negative stereotype of the Chinese in the version of Orientalism, and all of her depictions participate in the dominant American discourse of Orientalized Chinese
Summary
The Chinese American writer Amy Tan proves herself to be a most distinguished one She firstly gained acclaim in 1989 for The Joy Luck Club in the bestsellers lists, and continued to remain a popular writer with works such as The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Moon Lady (1992), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter 's Daughter (2000), Saving Fish From Drowning (2005), Rules for Virgins (2012), The Valley of Amazement (2013) etc. Among all these works, The Hundred Secret Senses, a shift from previous mother-daughter relationship to problematic sisterhood exploration, attracts readers’ attention and remains as New York Times hardcover best-seller for nearly three months. This paper attempts to argue that Orientalism is represented and subverted in The Hundred Secret Senses, especially by focusing on the characterization strategy
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