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Deterritorializing Hegemonic Globalization Progressively in Xiaolu Guo’s Experimental Writing: A Comparative Reading of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and A Lover’s Discourse

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 65; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00111619.2023.2169102

1939-9138

Yifan Jin,

Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

The narrative patterns of family saga, international romance, and hyphenated identity are popular with overseas Chinese authors who wish to enter the Anglophone market. In fact, they are implicated in the homogenization and marginalization of the ethnic minorities' cultural discourse under asymmetrical globalization. This article argues that Xiaolu Guo's A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and its sequel, A Lover's Discourse, are a continuous literary experiment in writing about the Chinese diaspora and pushing against those stereotypes. By shaping her protagonists not as recollectors but as observers via a documentary approach, Guo includes their international love within criticism of Western masculinity and links their diasporic experience to a cosmopolitan journey. The analysis of her experimental style of challenging Anglophone cultural imperialism and seeking global justice reveals the innovation and diversity of the Chinese diaspora's translingual writing. Thus, Guo's counter-hegemonic literary practice not only distinguishes itself from literature categorized as "ethnic" but also contributes to the discursive equality of international English-language literature by minority writers.