| dc.description.abstract | The identity of the non-identity in Ying Chen’s novels
In the context of Exile literature in the twentieth century, we note a number of Chinese emigre writers writing in French about their exile experiences and nostalgic feelings of their motherland. Among them, Ying Chen was borned in China, immigrated to Quebec, Canada in 1989, and later on moved to Vancouver in 2003. Her novels are full of images of “exile” and are classified as “migrant literature” (littérature migrante) or “migrant writing” (écritures migrantes) which flourished in the literary circles within Quebec in the 1980s, just as many immigrant writers who experienced an exercise in cross-cultural thinking during this period of time. However, she declines the mission as a cultural bridge to deliver the images of ＂Eternal China＂ in virtue of her exceptional background compared to the other Chinese–French authors; also, she breaks away from the frame of migration experiences by emphasizing an exile more metaphysical, which makes her migrant writing particular compared to her contemporary immigrant writers in Quebec.
This paper will focus on the first three novels of Ying Chen: “La Mémoire de l’eau”, “Les Lettres chinoises”, and “L’Ingratitude” with the purpose of probing into the exile and identity issues in her works. The study is divided into three parts: The first chapter provides a detailed discussion on the presentation of female characters in her novels and its significance to the exile issue. The second chapter attempts to explore the concept of “non-identity” (la non-identité) in exile experience at three different angles: spatial, temporal and spiritual dimensions in exile. The third chapter employs new interpretive frameworks including the usage of images, narrative skills, and a writing style close to “female writing” to observe how Ying Chen vividly presents the close relationship between exile experience and writing through her own writing. As a female immigrant writer, the author went through different forms of exile: of geographical boundaries, of the inner self, and that of writing; by combining the exile experiences of women, immigrant and writing in her exilic writing, she emphasizes the sense of universality (universalisme) in exile, that is, an endless oscillation between sameness and difference and the dissolution of the boundary which leads to a rootless wandering state. | en_US |