Mental illness as metaphor in Hua-ling Nieh and Li-hua Yu's Chinese-language American novels

Bibliographic Data

ID3852152
AuthorsHolly E Martins, Holly E Martin (Appalachian State University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume4
Issue3
Pages347-367
Publication date2006-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative American Studies An International Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1477-5700 • E-ISSN: 1741-2676
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1177/1477570006067781
OpenAlexW2067179288
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited4

This article focuses on two fictional immigrant characters who appear in the Chinese-language American novels Sang Ching Yu Tau Hong (Mulberry and Peach) by Hua-ling Nieh and You Jian Zong Lu, You Jian Zong Lu (Palm Trees Again, Palm Trees Again) by Li-hua Yu respectively. Both protagonists suffer from identity crises that lead to mental disorders. These disorders, resulting partly from their immigrant experience, should be read as a metaphor for the damage that can be caused by discrimination and cultural dislocation, not as a statement that immigrants are somehow inherently unbalanced. A character's slip into mental illness may occur because of the character's mistreatment and subsequent inability to adjust, but the character's mental illness may also be seen as an active resistance to assimilation and as a reaffirmation of the character's 'Chineseness'

Art · Chinese americans · Immigration · Linguistics · Literature · Mental health · Mental illness · Metaphor · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · History · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Psychology

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