Literary Writing and Memory Preservation of Ida Pruitt from a Spatial Perspective

Abstract

Space not only possesses the value of preserving memory but also provides a reasonable approach for cultural construction in narrative works. Identity confirmation is the main way to address issues of identification. It effectively constructs an identity system in the process of expressing self-subjectivity and discourse power, thereby completing the articulation of self-identity. The Chinese writings in Ida Pruitt’s literary works are presented in three forms: "de-subjectivity", "partial intervention of subjectivity", and "restoration of subjectivity". From the perspective of multiple identity advantages and cultural studies, she re-narrates Chinese national fables. Using traditional Chinese culture as the writing medium and adopting an ethnographic writing style, she interprets the national character and psychology of the Chinese nation, thus completing her own identity confirmation process. With the help of cross-cultural hermeneutics and the critical theory of autobiographical narrative space, this study selects Pruitt’s cultural identity, gender identity, and national identity as research perspectives to interpret her autobiographical narrative texts related to traditional Chinese culture, analyzing how she uses spatial narrative methods to achieve cultural construction and memory reshaping. Abandoning pre-established value positions among various cultural trends and taking commonality as the premise, using creative texts as a literary medium to examine the daily life of the people in a specific era is not only a unique way of Pruitt’s Chinese literary writing but also a vivid interpretation of her cultural care consciousness.