谭恩美《拯救溺水鱼》里的游客凝视与霸权心态
摘要
谭恩美新作《拯救溺水鱼》于2005年问世。关于该小说的评价褒贬不一,有的评论家认为谭恩美试图突破以往小说中华裔的界限,有的则认为这部小说脱离了她原有的风格,研究价值不大。《拯救溺水鱼》和作者以前的作品有相通之处：如人物中也有华裔,故事发生的地点也有现代中国,作品的主题也探讨母爱等。但与前几部小说不同,在这部小说中,谭恩美把背景放在中国和缅甸的旅游景点,把关注的重点放在旅游和美国游客对当地风景、文化和当地人的凝视上。本文试图从游客凝视的视角来分析文中主要人物,并试图挖掘凝视背后隐藏的权力关系以及美国游客的霸权心态。
约翰·尤瑞提出的游客凝视是由多种因素共同影响而形成的,其中包括游客的所思所想和当地旅游部门的建构。游客凝视是一种看与被看的关系,也是一种权力关系,一种主宰与被主宰的关系。《拯救溺水鱼》中的美国游客在中国和缅甸参观的时候,也在有意无意地反映这种权力关系,表露出他们的霸权心态。
本论文主要分析美国游客如何凝视当地风景、文化和当地人,如何参与或干涉当地的事务,以及在凝视和干预过程中表露出的霸权心态。有着少数族裔背景的美国游客,曾受到主流社会带有歧视性的“白人男性凝视”,但他们在游览中国和缅甸的人文风景时却重演了这种凝视并抱着一种霸权心态去干涉当地事务。无论是观看风景、文化还是当地人,他们都抱着一种猎奇的心理、一种霸权的心理、一种拯救当地濒危物种和当地人的心理去凝视、去干涉。然而并非所有好的愿望都有好的结果。凝视当地的风景时,他们通过专业知识展现了他们的权力,破坏了当地的生态环境。凝视当地的文化则反映出他们的猎奇心态理和文化优越感以及少数民族文化在发展旅游的过程中所面临的问题：如何在迎合游客凝视和保存民族文化遗产之间保持平衡。美国游客的文化优越感和霸权心态使他们觉得自己有责任去拯救缅甸少数民族克伦人。在他们的帮助下,克伦人过了一段辉煌的生活,但最后还是被当地政府镇压；在某种意义上,游客凝视加速了克伦人的灭亡。
Amy Tan published her latest novel Saving Fish from Drowning in 2005. Some critics argue that Tan has gone beyond her earlier novels about Chinese American in this novel while others state that the style of this novel is the most un-Tanlike. Saving Fish from Drowning shares some similarities with Tan's earlier novels. Like her earlier novels, the novel also depicts Chinese American characters, takes modern China as its physical setting and explores the theme of maternal love. However, the novel differs from Tan's other novels in that it centers around tourism and the gaze of American tourists on local landscape, cultures and people and is set in tourists sites in China and Burma. This thesis analyzes the American tourists in this novel from the perspective of the tourist gaze and tries to uncover the power relationship behind the gaze and their hegemonic mentality.
The tourist gaze, proposed by John Urry, is influenced by many factors such as tourist's thoughts and local tourism department's construction. The tourist gaze implicates a relationship of seeing and being seen and a power relationship of dominating and being dominated. Touring around China and Burma, the American tourists in Saving Fish from Drowning unconsciously reflect this power relationship and expose their hegemonic mentality through gaze.
This thesis tries to analyze how the American tourists gaze on local landscape, cultures and people, how they involve in or interfere in local affairs and how they expose their hegemonic mentality. Those tourists, having ethnic backgrounds in America, oppose the discriminatory white male gaze from the mainstream society but they still perform such gaze and intervene in local affairs with hegemony when they visit local areas. The American tourists gaze on local landscape, cultures and people to satisfy their curiosity about the mysterious and ancient Orient, yet their good wishes to "save" others do not always bring good results. Gazing on local landscape, they reveal their power over local residents by their professional knowledge and destroy local ecological environment. They are curious about distinctive local cultures but local cultures in their eyes are inferior to those of their own on account of their hegemonic mentality and sense of cultural superiority. In developing tourism, local communities face a challenge in how to keep a balance between meeting the tourist gaze and preserving cultural heritage. The American tourists in the novel with hegemonic mentality and sense of superiority assume that they have the responsibility to save Karen people, a minority in Burma. With the help of the American tourists, Karen people live a brief period of wealthy life but are finally killed by the Myanmar government; to a certain extent, the gaze of American tourists speeds up the genocide of Karen people.
约翰·尤瑞提出的游客凝视是由多种因素共同影响而形成的,其中包括游客的所思所想和当地旅游部门的建构。游客凝视是一种看与被看的关系,也是一种权力关系,一种主宰与被主宰的关系。《拯救溺水鱼》中的美国游客在中国和缅甸参观的时候,也在有意无意地反映这种权力关系,表露出他们的霸权心态。
本论文主要分析美国游客如何凝视当地风景、文化和当地人,如何参与或干涉当地的事务,以及在凝视和干预过程中表露出的霸权心态。有着少数族裔背景的美国游客,曾受到主流社会带有歧视性的“白人男性凝视”,但他们在游览中国和缅甸的人文风景时却重演了这种凝视并抱着一种霸权心态去干涉当地事务。无论是观看风景、文化还是当地人,他们都抱着一种猎奇的心理、一种霸权的心理、一种拯救当地濒危物种和当地人的心理去凝视、去干涉。然而并非所有好的愿望都有好的结果。凝视当地的风景时,他们通过专业知识展现了他们的权力,破坏了当地的生态环境。凝视当地的文化则反映出他们的猎奇心态理和文化优越感以及少数民族文化在发展旅游的过程中所面临的问题：如何在迎合游客凝视和保存民族文化遗产之间保持平衡。美国游客的文化优越感和霸权心态使他们觉得自己有责任去拯救缅甸少数民族克伦人。在他们的帮助下,克伦人过了一段辉煌的生活,但最后还是被当地政府镇压；在某种意义上,游客凝视加速了克伦人的灭亡。
Amy Tan published her latest novel Saving Fish from Drowning in 2005. Some critics argue that Tan has gone beyond her earlier novels about Chinese American in this novel while others state that the style of this novel is the most un-Tanlike. Saving Fish from Drowning shares some similarities with Tan's earlier novels. Like her earlier novels, the novel also depicts Chinese American characters, takes modern China as its physical setting and explores the theme of maternal love. However, the novel differs from Tan's other novels in that it centers around tourism and the gaze of American tourists on local landscape, cultures and people and is set in tourists sites in China and Burma. This thesis analyzes the American tourists in this novel from the perspective of the tourist gaze and tries to uncover the power relationship behind the gaze and their hegemonic mentality.
The tourist gaze, proposed by John Urry, is influenced by many factors such as tourist's thoughts and local tourism department's construction. The tourist gaze implicates a relationship of seeing and being seen and a power relationship of dominating and being dominated. Touring around China and Burma, the American tourists in Saving Fish from Drowning unconsciously reflect this power relationship and expose their hegemonic mentality through gaze.
This thesis tries to analyze how the American tourists gaze on local landscape, cultures and people, how they involve in or interfere in local affairs and how they expose their hegemonic mentality. Those tourists, having ethnic backgrounds in America, oppose the discriminatory white male gaze from the mainstream society but they still perform such gaze and intervene in local affairs with hegemony when they visit local areas. The American tourists gaze on local landscape, cultures and people to satisfy their curiosity about the mysterious and ancient Orient, yet their good wishes to "save" others do not always bring good results. Gazing on local landscape, they reveal their power over local residents by their professional knowledge and destroy local ecological environment. They are curious about distinctive local cultures but local cultures in their eyes are inferior to those of their own on account of their hegemonic mentality and sense of cultural superiority. In developing tourism, local communities face a challenge in how to keep a balance between meeting the tourist gaze and preserving cultural heritage. The American tourists in the novel with hegemonic mentality and sense of superiority assume that they have the responsibility to save Karen people, a minority in Burma. With the help of the American tourists, Karen people live a brief period of wealthy life but are finally killed by the Myanmar government; to a certain extent, the gaze of American tourists speeds up the genocide of Karen people.
引文
Bai, Zhihong. "Ethnic Identities under the Tourist Gaze." Asian Ethnicity 8.2 (2007): 245-59.
Baldwin, Jeff. "Tourism Development, Wetland Degradation and Beach Erosion in Antigua, West Indies." Tourism Geographies 2.2(2000):193-218.
Bellerby, Rachel. "The Medieval Pilgrimage:Religious Pilgrim Destinations in the Middle Ages." 10 March 2008.2 April 2010
Chen, Aimin. "A Conspired Exotic Land:Behind Amy Tans'Children's Story." Journal of Nanjing Nornal University 6 (2007):152-56(陈爱敏,共谋的异国情调：谭恩美儿童作品的背后.南京师范大学报,2007,(6)：152-56)
---. "Chinese American Literature from the Perspective of Orientalism." Foreign Literature Studies 6(2006):112-18(陈爱敏,“东方主义”视野中的美国华裔文学.外国文学研究,2006,(6)：112-18)
---. "The Other of Catering Culture:Orientalism in Works of Contemporary Chinese American Women Writers." Contemporary Foreign Literature 3 (2003):43-48(饮食文化上的“他者”:当代华裔美国女作家的东方主义色彩.当代外国文学,2003,(3)：43-48)
Cheng, Aimin. A Study of Chinese American Literature. Beijing:U of Beijing P,2003.(程爱民,美国华裔文学研究.北京：北京大学出版社,2003)
Coles, Robert, and Jon Erikon. The Middle Americans. Atlantic:Little, Brown and Company,1971.
Craik, Jennifer. "The Culture of Tourism." Touring Cultures:Transformations of Travel and Theory. Ed. Chris Rojek, and John Urry. London and New York:Routledge, 2000.113-36.
Desforges. Luke. "Traveling the World:Identity and Travel Biography." Annals of Tourism Research 27.4(2000):924-45.
Digance, Justine. "Pilgrimage at Contested Sites." Annals of Tourism Research 30.1 (2003):143-59.
Edwards, Philip. Pilgrimage and Literary Tradition. Cambridge, UK; New York:U of Cambridge P,2005.
Freund, Sandy. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. School Library Journal February 2006:158.
Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge:Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. Trans. Colin Gordon. New York:Pantheon Books,1980.
Galani-Moutafi, Vasiliki. "The Self and the Other:Travelers, Ethnographer, Tourist.' Annals of Tourism Research 27.1 (2000):203-24.
Hansen, Liane. "Interview:Amy Tan on Saving Fish from Drowning, A New Direction for Tan." National Public Radio News,2005.
Huggan, Graham. The Postcolonial Exotic:Marketing the Margins. London and New York:Routledge,2001.
Huntley, E. D. Amy Tan:A Critical Companion. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1998.
Kim, Elaine. Asian American Literature:An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context. Philadelphia:U of Temple P,1982.
Li, David Lei-Wei. Imagining the Nation:Asian American Literature and Cultural Consent. Stanford, California:U of Stanford P,1998.
Macleod, Donald. "Disappearing Culture? Globalization and A Canary Island Fishing Community." History and Anthropology 13.1 (2002):53-67.
Maoz, Darya. "The Mutual Gaze." Annals of Tourism Research 33.1(2006):221-39.
Maryles, Daisy. "Paperback Bestsellers/Trade." Publishers Weekly 4 December 2006: 15.
Morgan, David. The Scared Gaze:Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London:U of California P,2005.
National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Statistical Communique 2000." February 28, 2001.4 Aug.2010
Neville, Maureen. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Library Journal 1 October 2005:70.
Nosotro, Rit. "Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages." 2 Apr.2010
Null, Linda, and Suellen Alfred. "Drowning in a Sea of Episodes." English Journal 97.2 (2007):107-09.
Perkins, Harvey C., and David C. Thorns. "Gazing or Performing? Reflections on Urry's Tourist Gaze in the Context of Contemporary Experience in the Antipodes.' International Sociology 16.2(2001):185-204.
Ratner, Rochelle. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Library Journal January 2006:172-14.
Rojek, Chris, and John Urry. Touring Cultures:Transformations of Travel and Theory. London and New York:Routledge,2000.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York:Vintage Books,1979.
"Saving Fish from Drowning" Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Publishers Weekly 29 August 2005:34.
Seaman, Donna. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Booklist 1 September 2005:8.
Shan, Te-hsing. Pioneering the Frontiers and Breaking New Grounds:Chinese American Literature and Cultural Studies. Tianjin:U of Nankai P,2006(单德兴,“开疆”与“辟士”:美国华裔文学与文化.天津：南开大学出版社,2006)
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Amy Tan:A Literary Companion. North Carolina:McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers,2004.
Song, Yang. "Deconstruction and Reconstruction:The Character Images in Saving Fish from Drowning." Journal of Changchun University 3(2008):46-50(宋阳,解构与重构：论谭恩美《拯救溺水的鱼》中的人物形象.长春大学学报,2008,(3)：46-50)
Tan, Amy. Saving Fish from Drowning. London:Forth Estate,2005.
---. The Opposite of Fate:A Book of Musings. New York:Putnam,2003.
Todd, Traci. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Booklist 1 February 2006:76.
Tribe, John. "The Indiscipline of Tourism." Annals of Tourism Research 24.3(1997): 638-57.
Urry, John. Consuming Places. London and New York:Routledge,1995.
---. The Tourist Gaze,2nd ed. London:Sage Publications,2002.
---. "The Tourist Gaze and the'Environment'." Theory, Culture & Society 9.1(1992): 1-26.
U.S. Census Bureau. "Profile of General Demographic Characteristics:2000." July 2002.16 Aug.2010
Wang, Lili. "Rereading Three Novels by Amy Tan from the Perspective of Ecocriticism." Foreign Literature 4(2010):52-58(王立礼,从生态批评的角度重读谭恩美的三部作品.外国文学,2010,(4)：52-58)
Xie, Yanyan. "Quest Within and Beyond Ethnic Boundary:A Baudrillardian Reading of Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning." Diss. U of Xiamen,2009.
Xiong, Xiaobo, et al. "Preliminary Study on Effects of Tourism on Mosuo Matriarchal Culture." International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 15 (2008):42-47.
Zhang, Qiong. "On the Narrative of Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning.' Contemporary Foreign Literature 2 (2008):150-54(张琼,谁在诉说,谁在倾听：谭恩美《拯救溺水鱼》的叙事意义.当代外国文学,2008,(2)：150-54)
Zhao, Wenshu. Positioning Contemporary Chinese American Literature in Contested Terrains. Nanjing:U of Nanjing P,2004.
---. Harmony and Variation:Changing Cultural Orientations in Chinese American Literature. Tianjin:U of Nankai P,2009(赵文书,和声与变奏：华美文学文化取向的历史嬗变.天津：南开大学出版社,2009)
Baldwin, Jeff. "Tourism Development, Wetland Degradation and Beach Erosion in Antigua, West Indies." Tourism Geographies 2.2(2000):193-218.
Bellerby, Rachel. "The Medieval Pilgrimage:Religious Pilgrim Destinations in the Middle Ages." 10 March 2008.2 April 2010
Chen, Aimin. "A Conspired Exotic Land:Behind Amy Tans'Children's Story." Journal of Nanjing Nornal University 6 (2007):152-56(陈爱敏,共谋的异国情调：谭恩美儿童作品的背后.南京师范大学报,2007,(6)：152-56)
---. "Chinese American Literature from the Perspective of Orientalism." Foreign Literature Studies 6(2006):112-18(陈爱敏,“东方主义”视野中的美国华裔文学.外国文学研究,2006,(6)：112-18)
---. "The Other of Catering Culture:Orientalism in Works of Contemporary Chinese American Women Writers." Contemporary Foreign Literature 3 (2003):43-48(饮食文化上的“他者”:当代华裔美国女作家的东方主义色彩.当代外国文学,2003,(3)：43-48)
Cheng, Aimin. A Study of Chinese American Literature. Beijing:U of Beijing P,2003.(程爱民,美国华裔文学研究.北京：北京大学出版社,2003)
Coles, Robert, and Jon Erikon. The Middle Americans. Atlantic:Little, Brown and Company,1971.
Craik, Jennifer. "The Culture of Tourism." Touring Cultures:Transformations of Travel and Theory. Ed. Chris Rojek, and John Urry. London and New York:Routledge, 2000.113-36.
Desforges. Luke. "Traveling the World:Identity and Travel Biography." Annals of Tourism Research 27.4(2000):924-45.
Digance, Justine. "Pilgrimage at Contested Sites." Annals of Tourism Research 30.1 (2003):143-59.
Edwards, Philip. Pilgrimage and Literary Tradition. Cambridge, UK; New York:U of Cambridge P,2005.
Freund, Sandy. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. School Library Journal February 2006:158.
Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge:Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. Trans. Colin Gordon. New York:Pantheon Books,1980.
Galani-Moutafi, Vasiliki. "The Self and the Other:Travelers, Ethnographer, Tourist.' Annals of Tourism Research 27.1 (2000):203-24.
Hansen, Liane. "Interview:Amy Tan on Saving Fish from Drowning, A New Direction for Tan." National Public Radio News,2005.
Huggan, Graham. The Postcolonial Exotic:Marketing the Margins. London and New York:Routledge,2001.
Huntley, E. D. Amy Tan:A Critical Companion. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1998.
Kim, Elaine. Asian American Literature:An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context. Philadelphia:U of Temple P,1982.
Li, David Lei-Wei. Imagining the Nation:Asian American Literature and Cultural Consent. Stanford, California:U of Stanford P,1998.
Macleod, Donald. "Disappearing Culture? Globalization and A Canary Island Fishing Community." History and Anthropology 13.1 (2002):53-67.
Maoz, Darya. "The Mutual Gaze." Annals of Tourism Research 33.1(2006):221-39.
Maryles, Daisy. "Paperback Bestsellers/Trade." Publishers Weekly 4 December 2006: 15.
Morgan, David. The Scared Gaze:Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London:U of California P,2005.
National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Statistical Communique 2000." February 28, 2001.4 Aug.2010
Neville, Maureen. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Library Journal 1 October 2005:70.
Nosotro, Rit. "Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages." 2 Apr.2010
Null, Linda, and Suellen Alfred. "Drowning in a Sea of Episodes." English Journal 97.2 (2007):107-09.
Perkins, Harvey C., and David C. Thorns. "Gazing or Performing? Reflections on Urry's Tourist Gaze in the Context of Contemporary Experience in the Antipodes.' International Sociology 16.2(2001):185-204.
Ratner, Rochelle. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Library Journal January 2006:172-14.
Rojek, Chris, and John Urry. Touring Cultures:Transformations of Travel and Theory. London and New York:Routledge,2000.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York:Vintage Books,1979.
"Saving Fish from Drowning" Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Publishers Weekly 29 August 2005:34.
Seaman, Donna. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Booklist 1 September 2005:8.
Shan, Te-hsing. Pioneering the Frontiers and Breaking New Grounds:Chinese American Literature and Cultural Studies. Tianjin:U of Nankai P,2006(单德兴,“开疆”与“辟士”:美国华裔文学与文化.天津：南开大学出版社,2006)
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Amy Tan:A Literary Companion. North Carolina:McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers,2004.
Song, Yang. "Deconstruction and Reconstruction:The Character Images in Saving Fish from Drowning." Journal of Changchun University 3(2008):46-50(宋阳,解构与重构：论谭恩美《拯救溺水的鱼》中的人物形象.长春大学学报,2008,(3)：46-50)
Tan, Amy. Saving Fish from Drowning. London:Forth Estate,2005.
---. The Opposite of Fate:A Book of Musings. New York:Putnam,2003.
Todd, Traci. "Saving Fish from Drowning." Rev. of Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan. Booklist 1 February 2006:76.
Tribe, John. "The Indiscipline of Tourism." Annals of Tourism Research 24.3(1997): 638-57.
Urry, John. Consuming Places. London and New York:Routledge,1995.
---. The Tourist Gaze,2nd ed. London:Sage Publications,2002.
---. "The Tourist Gaze and the'Environment'." Theory, Culture & Society 9.1(1992): 1-26.
U.S. Census Bureau. "Profile of General Demographic Characteristics:2000." July 2002.16 Aug.2010
Wang, Lili. "Rereading Three Novels by Amy Tan from the Perspective of Ecocriticism." Foreign Literature 4(2010):52-58(王立礼,从生态批评的角度重读谭恩美的三部作品.外国文学,2010,(4)：52-58)
Xie, Yanyan. "Quest Within and Beyond Ethnic Boundary:A Baudrillardian Reading of Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning." Diss. U of Xiamen,2009.
Xiong, Xiaobo, et al. "Preliminary Study on Effects of Tourism on Mosuo Matriarchal Culture." International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 15 (2008):42-47.
Zhang, Qiong. "On the Narrative of Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning.' Contemporary Foreign Literature 2 (2008):150-54(张琼,谁在诉说,谁在倾听：谭恩美《拯救溺水鱼》的叙事意义.当代外国文学,2008,(2)：150-54)
Zhao, Wenshu. Positioning Contemporary Chinese American Literature in Contested Terrains. Nanjing:U of Nanjing P,2004.
---. Harmony and Variation:Changing Cultural Orientations in Chinese American Literature. Tianjin:U of Nankai P,2009(赵文书,和声与变奏：华美文学文化取向的历史嬗变.天津：南开大学出版社,2009)