Translating memory, transforming identity: Chinese expatriates and memoirs of the cultural revolution

This article explores a newly emerged popular literary genre in the West at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century: Cultural Revolution memoirs by expatriates. This literary phenomenon is revealing of the continuous imbalanced power dynamics between the East and the West, manifested in an interesting mutation of the discourse of Orientalism that Edward Said has theorized of a similar phenomenon in the nineteenth century. These Cultural Revolution memoirs guarantee the Western reader a direct linguistic experience (without the mediation of translation) as well as absolute cultural and experiential authenticity about Mao's China. In addition to feeding the West's perennial fascination of the Orient, these memoirs of victimhood-which always end with finding salvation and happiness in the West - also help to strengthen the moral and emotional vulnerability felt in the post-Cold War and post-911 West.