Relocation of Cultural Identity in Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book

Abstract

Maxine Hong Kingston, born in California, America in 1940, is a celebrated Chinese-American writer. And she is the most representative female writer in promoting the prosperity of Chinese-American literature in the late 20 century. As a Chinese American writer’s unique identity, she pays special attention to Chinese-Americans in her works. Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book is her first real novel published in 1989. Its publication brought strong social shock and numerous literary critics and scholars to evaluate her works from different perspectives in a variety of literary theory. Unlike her previous works, Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book transfers the focus from the reconstruction of Chinese-American history to the Chinese American cultural identity. Through careful reading of the text, this paper, with Homi K. Bhabha’s post-colonial theory as a theoretical base, aims to explore the reconstruction and relocation of cultural identity after cultural perplexity and disillusionment, trying to open up a new way out for Chinese-Americans.