In nearly six decades, Chang Eileen has been subjected to abundant critical scrutiny. By using “dream of genius” as a key to examine the development of Chang Eileen’s works and life experiences in the United States, this thesis attempts to analyze the significance of transition both in form and content of her fictional writing, which is totally different from her earlier works and is still lack of scholarly discussion until now....[ Read more ]

In nearly six decades, Chang Eileen has been subjected to abundant critical scrutiny. By using “dream of genius” as a key to examine the development of Chang Eileen’s works and life experiences in the United States, this thesis attempts to analyze the significance of transition both in form and content of her fictional writing, which is totally different from her earlier works and is still lack of scholarly discussion until now.

To achieve its objective, this thesis is arranged in seven chapters. The first chapter, an introductory section, begins with the methodology, purposes and approach, as well as organization of this thesis. Chapter two explores the implication of her decision of emigrating from Hong Kong to the United States in early 1950s. Chapter three focuses on her second marriage in the country and chapter four gives a brief account of the friendship with Hu Shi. Chapter five and six are about her fictional writings. Chapter five reviews her two unpublished biographical novels: The Book of Change and The Fall of the Pagoda. Chapter six will carry out a study on the textual analysis to indicate that in Yuannü (Chinese version of The Rouge of the North) Chang presented to her readers a special linguistic sensation of aesthetics and formed an “effect of the real” atmosphere by using colloquial words and expressions from dialects to describe the everyday lives of a group of ordinary women and men in reality. The final chapter concludes with the characteristics of these writings and serves as a primitive discussion on their contributions and position in the understanding of Chang’s whole works.