Gish Jen’s Dilogy: How Mona Chng Becomes Changowitz

Abstract

The article discusses the dilogy of Gish Jen, the renowned American writer of Chinese descent, in which she traces back the difficulties of two generations of Chinese immigrants on the way to assimilation in American society that arouse problems with self-identification and choice of life priorities. The goal of the paper is to point out the difference of two generations in the approaches to value orientations and the influence and interaction of Chinese and American cultures in the formation of a hybrid personality. Methodology. The paper makes use of the systemic approach with the focus on the cultural-historical and biographical methods that allowed to show the specificity of the novels of the dilogy. Results. The analysis of the novels of the dilogy showed that they deal with the most acute problems for the immigrants: self-identification and rooting into the soil of the new homeland as well as finding their place there without severing ties with the historical homeland. Scientific novelty. The paper addresses the work of a writer, which has yet been understudied, though the questions that she deals with are some of the most painful for US society. Practical use. The paper may be used for further study of transcultural authors, closer acquaintance with their poetics from the point of view of theory and translation studies.