JIANGHAN ACADEMIC ›› 2016, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (1): 90-96.doi: 10.16388/j.cnki.cn42-1843/c.2016.01.011

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Urban Approach and Identity Cognition in the Growth Discourse—— Lin Haiyin’s Beijing Narration and Her Identity Reconfirmation

LI Guoqian   

  1. Department of Chinese Language,Peking University,Beijing,100871
  • Received:2016-03-30 Revised:2016-03-30 Online:2016-02-15 Published:2016-01-27

Abstract: During Taiwan’s nostalgia tide in the late 50’s of the 20th century,Lin Haiyin,in children’s perspective in My Memories of Old Beijing ,constructs a Beijing alienated from its politicalized historic context. In her later narratives,she once again experienced the dual enlightenment of old and modern Beijing,accomplished the mission of narrating growth in the process of confirming her self- identity,and reproduced Beijing’s metropolitan progress using her own proceedings. In the narration,the adult narrator occasionally appears and the voices of both the children and the adult are constantly trans-placed and even disrupted,presenting two different narrative attitudes. As a hidden adult narrator,Lin uses the nominal children’s naivety to connect a depoliticalized spiritual metropolitan and a polysemic hometown. This is inseparable with Taiwan’s context when the novel was written. Taiwan where she was living was both her hometown and a foreign land to her and inevitably her writings’depoliticalization had a dual nature. This phenomenon was common among her contemporary nostalgic writers;historic context was intentionally weakened in nostalgic narrations,different from writings of the time in the mainland.

Key words: Beijing narration, growth narration, metropolitan reconstruction, regional consciousness, native narration, children’s perspective, Lin Haiyin

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