Department of British and American Studies at the - Univerzita ...

Chinese Prayers and American Heaven – Cultural Struggles in
Yiyun Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
1. Introduction
Mária Kiššová
University of Constantine the Philosopher, Nitra
Culture and identity likely belong among the most discussed concepts nowadays in the
humanities. Even a brief look at the titles of the scholarly papers presented at various
colloquia and conferences in recent years supports the trend. In literary studies the terms are
mainly applied in two ways. First, they are the key terms in the framework of a theoretical
approach towards texts, i.e. they are used within literary theory which may scrutinize either
any literary text, including texts with subtle cultural references. Secondly, the words ‗culture‘
and ‗identity‘ are used in the discourse about the content of a literary work per se as modern
literature in English portrays various forms of cultural encounters and clashes resulting from
globalization and migration, and reflects on the cultural changes happening worldwide. We
are convinced that it is impossible for a literary scholar to discuss 21 st century literature (not
only in English) and ignore the terms ‗culture‘ and/or ‗identity‘.
Slovak Studies in English, Vol. 3, 2011 – Identity in Intercultural Communication
LITERATURE
Our time is characterised by a deep interest in other cultures, a fact fuelled by the
possibilities of travel and media, such as magazines, newspapers, TV and especially Internet
communication. As a result of this, two distinct standpoints might be observed and they are
often reflected in literary works. Besides the attempts to strengthen cultural tolerance and
understanding – cultural difference viewed as a positive feature bringing enrichment, it may
also be perceived negatively, as a threat and danger. Having said that, it is literature that
―depicts‖ what is going on, though admittedly, it may become very political, sometimes even
propagandistic when portraying different cultures which at the same time represent two
different political systems. However, we do not suggest approaching literature just as an
account of social changes, although that perspective may also be interesting. Our aim is to
show how literary qualities and literariness of a specific text create and form what we
understand as culture, identity and cultural identity. The following study discusses the
collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2006) by the Chinese American Yiyun Li, an
author praised for her short stories which were published in the US, but which reflect and
depict the radical changes within modern Chinese society. We approach the collection
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