离散的诱惑 : 马华作家韦晕的离散书写 = The lure of diaspora : a critical study of Malaysian Chinese writer Wei Yun's diasporic writings

Abstract

Diaspora serves an important interdisciplinary field, which had never been absent in Malaysia and Singapore Chinese literary field. Since the Uniqueness of Malaya Literature debate in 1948, the emergence of Sinophone Literature Studies, also with the major focusing on contemporary Malaysian writers, these had echoed different interpretations on diaspora and locality, both inside and outside literary discourses. However, the research on the early Chinese writers were relatively lacking, especially those have been contributing to the writing paradigm associated with the diaspora discourses in Malaya. Wei Yun (1913-1996) , a southbound writer whom traveled to Malaya during Second WWII, equipped with various transnational experiences in Hong Kong and Guangdong, China. This thesis will provide a critical analysis on his works since 1950s, adopting the framework on literary criticism and comparative perspective, by intertwining of cultural theories eg. diaspora, cultural identity and locality. These was deemed as Wei Yun’s rethinking the idea of home, diaspora, and other sub-theme such as exile and travel along the line, which will shed light on his search of literary subjectivities and “local” identity. Therefore I coined “Cultural Malaya” as a re-conceptualized diasporic paradigm based on his literary portrayals. Ever since his first short story “Wuya gang shang huanghun” in 1956, I argue that Wei Yun’s notion of “Malaya” was a cultural hybrid form, encompassed in a trans-historical, geographical sphere and contact zones, which deeply embedded in his writings.