Between daughters : narratives of sisterhood by blood in female authors' family writing across the strait since the 1990s = 女兒之間 : 1990年代以降兩岸女性家族書寫中的親緣姐妹敘事

Abstract

Since the 1990s, family writing by female authors surged in both Mainland China and Taiwan. Related research, however, has either focused on a particular region or exclusively examined intergenerational relationship, without applying innovative perspectives such as trans-regional comparison. Therefore, this dissertation selects representative post-1990s novels of these two regions and adopts “relational details” as a new perspective to investigate the similarities and differences between narratives of sisterhood by blood in the literature across the Strait. It first introduces the historical context, theoretical background, and basic structure of this research. Thereafter, through close reading, it takes “blood” and “geography” as analytical axes to explore how sisterhood by blood, as an essential narrative strategy, drives plots and expands textual space. Concerning the “blood” axis, “narrative voices”, “narrative memories”, and the narrative theme “fatality” are emphasized. It posits that these aspects function as a prism through which female authors integrate female group portrait or collective identity, and simultaneously link females’ inner life experience with broader social issues. The geographical part focuses on the spatial meetings and partings of these biological sisters. It also discusses how this axis interacts with the “blood” axis, and how it plays a crucial role in shaping identity boundaries. This dissertation then delves further into the authors’ underlying writing aims. By analyzing the sisterly rivalry represented by “envy” and dialectics deriving from sisterhood by blood in selected texts, it interprets how this peer relationship effectively facilitates the reconstruction of subjectivity and “self-discovery” growth of female individuals. Ultimately, based on the comparison between narratives of sisterhood by blood in the literature across the Strait, this dissertation elucidates the core relationship-oriented trait of the post-1990s family writing by women authors from these two regions as well as their respective intrinsic gender consciousness and contextual implications.