As a woman characterised by alienation from both her culture and her family, Chen-mian finds meaning in islands because they are “small and complete in their solitude”. But the islands she lives in (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) are anything but isolated – they are postcolonial spaces characterised by their interdependence upon each other and upon larger “mainland” powers (China and the United States, namely). Rather than provide isolation, these islands are transit sites where global capital and global culture flow freely, and their close proximity to mainland states (unlike, say, the Hawaiian chain), makes “escape” ever possible. The novel’s depiction of islands as spaces of solitude, however, seems not to evade discourses of postcolonial history, but can be seen as a direct symptom of it. Chen-mian lives on islands because she has “no attachment to any land; these unvarying roots were terrifying to her” Do check out this insightful review of Su Wei-chens Island of Silence by Dr. Christopher Patterson in the June issue of Asiatic (asiatic.iium.edu.my).
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 04:46:15 +0000
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