란 카오의 『멍키 브리지』에 나타난 베트남 디아스포라의 상상적 초국가주의 (Vietnamese Refugees’ Imaginary Transnationalism in Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국현대영어영문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 현대영어영문학 / 54권 / 4호 / 213 ~ 232페이지
· 저자명 : 이현경

초록

The novel Monkey Bridge (1997), by the Vietnamese American writer Lan Cao, revolves around the life of the protagonist Mai, a teenage girl who left Vietnam shortly before the collapse of the South. Since the Vietnamese refugees, including Mai, could not return to their homeland in person, they cherished longings to return to the country in imagination on individual and collective levels, which can be called “imaginary transnationalism.” In the Vietnamese refugee community called “Little Saigon” to which Mai and her mother belonged, refugees reinvent themselves to make themselves seem innocuous in America because they remind Americans of embarrassing memories of the lost war. Refugees also participate in the process of reinventing the traditions of the homeland, which empowers them to confront the barriers they confront in America. However, their obsession with past lives in Vietnam and with the lost country makes it hard for members of the younger generation such as Mai to find hope for the future in this community. At the same time, Mai selectively uses memories of Vietnam to empower herself in America. By the end, however, Mai seems to be abandoning her ties to Vietnam as she leaves the Vietnamese community upon being adopted into the white-middle class family of Uncle Michael. Yet, there remains the implication that she will only critically and selectively adopt American culture and that continuing ties to her mother will enable her to remain an empowered transnational subject.

영어초록

The novel Monkey Bridge (1997), by the Vietnamese American writer Lan Cao, revolves around the life of the protagonist Mai, a teenage girl who left Vietnam shortly before the collapse of the South. Since the Vietnamese refugees, including Mai, could not return to their homeland in person, they cherished longings to return to the country in imagination on individual and collective levels, which can be called “imaginary transnationalism.” In the Vietnamese refugee community called “Little Saigon” to which Mai and her mother belonged, refugees reinvent themselves to make themselves seem innocuous in America because they remind Americans of embarrassing memories of the lost war. Refugees also participate in the process of reinventing the traditions of the homeland, which empowers them to confront the barriers they confront in America. However, their obsession with past lives in Vietnam and with the lost country makes it hard for members of the younger generation such as Mai to find hope for the future in this community. At the same time, Mai selectively uses memories of Vietnam to empower herself in America. By the end, however, Mai seems to be abandoning her ties to Vietnam as she leaves the Vietnamese community upon being adopted into the white-middle class family of Uncle Michael. Yet, there remains the implication that she will only critically and selectively adopt American culture and that continuing ties to her mother will enable her to remain an empowered transnational subject.

참고자료

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