Through the Looking Glass: Female Identity Rediscovery in Chen Ran’s and Amy Tan’s Fictions

Abstract

This paper compares the metaphorical images in the fictions written by contemporary avant-garde Chinese writer Chen Ran and Chinese American writer Amy Tan. Through a close-reading of the protagonist’ dreams and the attitudes towards the mirror from the perspectives of psychoanalysis and postmodern feminist theories, the paper attempts to prove that the dream scenes and the imagery of the mirror function as an essential tool for women to reconstruct their identities of multiplicity and fluidity in defiance of male arbitration.

Keywords

Chen Ran / Amy Tan / Comparative Literature / psychoanalysis / feminism

References

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