Abstract

The identity of Chinese ethnic literature is a topic widely talked about by academic community in recent years. In which the ethnic identity is worthy of being studied most. The phenomenon of identity in Chinese etunic literature especially contemporary ethnic fictions are rich and complicated, which has potential significance for us to study the heterogeneity and regularity of the ethnic literature. But in the past the research on this issue is very lack in terms of depth and breadth.

In the face of the situation that the academic community disagree to the concept of“ethnic literature”, to distinguish the general and narrow ethnic literature is necessary. This paper focuses mainly on the narrow ethnic literature. The identity theory has experienced the developmental process from the essential identity tothe constructive identity. Ideal identity has the two types of characteristic, but mainly of the constructive identity. National identity bases on the concept of identity, but also has its own characteristic. To introduce the theory of identity and national identity into Chinese contemporary ethnic fictions and ethnic literature is necessary, rational and important.

Many elements of the ethnic literature are involved in the construction of ethnic identity, especially the construction by the several aspects of“l(fā)iterary”such as language, narrative, style and image is the most secret, complicated and valuable.

In Chinese contemporary ethnic fictions, the construction by language includes native language writing, non-native writing and bilingual writing;the construction by narrative includes turning to the first person plural, multiple perspectives, parallel dialogue structure, religious and cultural narrative and narrative intervention; the construction by style includes lyricism, retelling the myth and epic, writing for showing culture and the stylistic transformation; the construction by image not only includes ethnic hero image, folk hero image and ethnic cultural image, but also the several modes posed by my image and other images: the dialogue mode, the contrast mode, the conflict mode and the mirror mode. The construction by language, narrative, style and image has their specific machanisms, strategies, causes, significance and limits. According to the research on these things, we can be inspired about the language, narrative, style and style of Chinese contemporary ethnic fictions and literature, the theory of identity and national identity.

The above study leads us to the discovery of a special nature of Chinese contemporary ethnic fictions and the ethnic literature: “the ethnic identity feature. ”It is different from the national, cultural or aesthetic feature, but also closely related to them. It has its specific meanning and is dynamic. The discovery of“the ethnic identity feature”has multiple meanings. There are two major reasons accounting for the formation of the feature. On the one hand, literature is an important means to construct identity and national identity, which offers the possibility of the formation of the ethnic identity feature and in fact generates a dominant feature of ethnic identity. On the other hand, the ethnic writers try to constructthe ethnic identity, which make the possibility of generating the ethnic identity feature become a reality and in fact generates a dominant and recessive ethnic identity. The latter can be divided into two cases: spontaneous and conscious construction by the ethnic writers. The conscious construction is related with three kinds of ethnic identity crisis: the discourse pressure from the Han culture and literature; the challenge to the ethnic culture from modernity; the threat of homogenization to the ethnic culture from globalization.

The ethnic identity feature also shows the cultural characteristics of Chinese contemporary ethnic fictions and the ethnic literature, which inspires us to explore the necessity, rationality and the multiple values and so on of the cultural research on the ethnic literature, for the purpose of the construction of the ethnic literature theory and criticism.

Key words: ethnic literature; contemporary ethnic fiction; ethnic identity; construct