陰魂不散：譚恩美《接骨師的女兒》中的創傷、記憶與認同

The Ghost/Past that Haunts: Trauma, Memory and Identity in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter

蔡雅婷(Ya-ting Tsai)

指導教授 ： 李欣穎

國立臺灣大學/文學院/外國語文學研究所/碩士(2007年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2007.00532

摘要

無資料

關鍵字

譚恩美 ； 《接骨師的女兒》 ； 創傷 ； 記憶 ； 認同

並列摘要

This thesis considers the implications of the ghost metaphor as a form of connection between the past and the present, asks what such an idea of ghost might mean in the specific context of traumatic histories, and, finally, assesses how memory, no matter the denial of memory or the reconstruction of memory, works to shape both female protagonists’ identity. These questions will be explored in the context of researches on trauma and memory, framing a novel that connects the completion of creative production with the narrative resolution of traumatic silence. The Introduction opens with a discussion on the distinctions between conventional ghost stories and stories of cultural haunting, the relevant contextual background, and how the ghost operating as a personified figure of the traumatic past influences the reconstruction of memory and ethnic identity. Chapter One establishes the primary theoretical foundation in order to support the reading of The Bonesetter’s Daughter whereas Chapter Two looks into LuLing’s dementia, which on the one hand relieves the pain of distressing memories, allowing LuLing to forgive herself by forgetting her remorse and grief for the past, and reverses the mother-daughter relationship on the other hand. Chapter Three illustrates how Ruth struggles in American culture as a Chinese-American descendant, and how she reexamines her own ethnicity with full understanding by means of remembering the past. The Conclusion raises some unresolved conflicts in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. These unresolved problems not only expose Tan’s limited concerns but also imply the impossibility of the recovery from trauma. It is difficult to reconcile a complete recovery because the trauma is still waiting to return. Both LuLing’s and Ruth’s identity must be continuously reconstructed because identity is grounded in memory that was and is always challenged by the past and the confusing new realities.

並列關鍵字

Amy Tan ； trauma ； memory ； identity

參考文獻

Adamson, Joseph, and Hilary Clark. “Introduction: Shame, Affect, Writing.” Scenes of Shame: Psychoanalysis, Shame, and Writing. Ed. Joseph Adamson and Hilary Clark. Albany: State U of New York P, 1999. 1-34.

Andreasen, N.C. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder:” Psychology, Biology, and the Manichaean Warfare between False Dichotomies.” Ed. H.I. Kaplan and B.J. Sadock. Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. 918-24, 1985.

Ballard, Clive G., John O’Brien, Ian James, and Alan Swann, eds. Dementia: Management of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.

Bousin, J. Brooks. Quiet as Its Kept: Shame, Trauma, and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison. Albany: SUNY P, 2000.

Brogan, Kathleen. Cultural Haunting: Ghosts and Ethnicity in Recent American Literature. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1998.