WHEN FATE PLAYS MAHJONG (AMY TAN ‘THE JOY LUCK CLUB’)

Abstract

The article considers the way of formation of the concept of comparative literature today as associated with crossing borders, rejecting binary oppositions, striving for openness, expanding and breaking the canon. Amy Tan, a Chinese descent writer, is one of the new American literature writers whose novels convey the consequences of inclusion in the literary canon and the complex cultural hybridity of the dioecious author, who is not "white," is and is a woman. The game of mahjong (the meanings of which are sparrows or a flock of sparrows) is not only their way of having fun but also their way to challenge destiny, to reshuffle and rearrange the "tiles," or the "hand" life has given them in a patriarchal preordered world; to connect the similar signs and to change what was written just as the game itself changes according to their moves. Although different from one another, the four „sparrows” are strong enough and smart enough to stand tall against misery and create a new life both for themselves and their daughters. Precisely why the hope for passing the baton to the next generation, the care, and the joy are at the core of the novel's main messages. This hope is realized through the mother-daughter relationship, which occupies a central place in the story, pushing away all other relationships (mothers-sons, fathers-daughters, and husband-wife), and the emotional center of the described world: eight separate yet interconnected lives. This novel is a parable about how mothers, through their memory, history, imagination, remain inside their daughters, how human experience, pain, and hope are transmitted, and in this way, the parable has universal characteristics.