王祖友

（河南理工大学，焦作，454003）

Professor Martha J.Cutter is the Interim Director for the Institute for African American Studies.She is also a Professor in the Department of English and in the Institute for African American Studies.She is editor of the journal MELUS：Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.Dr.Cutter received her Ph.D.in English from Brown University，and taught previously at Kent State University，in Ohio.Her first book，Unruly Tongue:Language and Identity in American Women's Fiction，1850-1930（University Press of Mississippi，1999），examines how African American and Anglo-American women writers from the nineteenth and twentieth century contested cultural dictates about women's speech and writing through their portrayal of literary heroines with unruly voices.She completed a second book calledLost and Found in Translation:Contemporary Ethnic American Writing and the Politics of Language Diversity（University of North Carolina Press，2006），which examines how African American，Asian American，Mexican American，and Native American writers employ the metaphor of cultural translation to undermine the separation often created in U.S.culture between the Ethnic and the American，and between disempowered discourse and authorized verbal communication.She has published articles in journals such asAmerican Literature,African American Review,American Literary Realism,MELUS,Women's Studies,Legacy,Criticism,and Callalooon authors such as Sui Sin Far（Edith Eaton），Nella Larsen，Harriet Jacobs，Alice Walker，Toni Morrison，Maxine Hong Kingston，Zitkala-Sa（Gertrude Simmons Bonnin），Kate Chopin，Charlotte Perkins Gilman，Mary Wilkins Freeman，and David Wong Louie.She remains intrigued by the interrelationships between literary texts and cultural contexts，and is currently at work on a third book，Passing:The Strange Cultural and Historical Meaning of a Word，which will trace the origins of racial passing and provide a cultural history of its changing significance in U.S.society from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century.

Wang Zuyou：Professor Martha J.Cutter，Iam very happy that you have granted me an opportunity to have an interview with you.Since you are editor ofMELUS，let's start with your principle or criteria for selecting the papers forMELUS？

Martha J.Cutter：AtMELUS，We have a very rigorous selection process.Most essays go through a round of evaluation by two to three specialist readers，who comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the essay，as well as render a decision（accept，accept with revisions，revise and resubmit with not commitment to publish，or reject）.At this point，the essay comes to me for a final decision，and the reports are often conflicting.I am looking for strong，original，well-written contributions that above all significantly advance an on-going scholarly conversation about a multiethnic author or topic.The author has to demonstrate that she or he knows the critical conversation and is advancing it in an original or novel way.Good writing is also key；I do not accept anything that will drive me or my staff crazy as we edit it.

Wang：Your first book，Unruly Tongue:Language and Identity in American Women's Fiction，1850-1930is about the relationship between Language and Identity in American Women's Fiction？What is that relationship？Why do you name it“Unruly Tongue”？

Cutter：This book primarily examines the way nineteenth-century Anglo-American and African American women were supposed to be“seen and not heard”as well as the social and psychological mechanisms that debarred them from full participation in discourse and language.In this time period，language was often viewed as patriarchal—as belonging to men or being“androcentric”（to use Charlotte Perkins Gilman's phrase）.I was interested in the ways women writers retheorized language itself so that it was not malecentered and worked to their advantage.I called the bookUnruly Tonguebecause this was a phrase that occurred repeatedly in advice manuals to women in the nineteenth-century—that women should curb their“unruly tongues”when speaking to men.This became a synecdoche for the whole struggle that women，and in particular women writers，faced—the way they needed to reconfigure language before they could find their place within it as authorized speakers and writers.

Wang：Your second bookLost and Found in Translation:Contemporary Ethnic American Writing and the Politics of Language Diversity，called examines how African American，Asian American，Mexican American，and Native American writers employ the metaphor of cultural translation to undermine the separation often created in U.S.culture between the Ethnic and the American，and between disempowered discourse and authorized verbal communication.Will you please elaborate on that separation，using some examples？

Cutter：I start with a famous scene from Maxine Hong Kingston'sThe Woman Warrior，where the protagonist is told to go to the drugstore by her mother and return some medicine erroneously sent to the family's house（a bad omen in Chinese tradition）and ask for some candy（a good omen）.When the protagonist is reluctant to go，her mother tells her：“You just translate.He'll understand.”The protagonist never does translate the custom for the druggist，essentially because she（as a young girl）sees it as Chinese nonsense，not worthy of being translated.But later in the book，she learns to tell a story with her mother，Brave Orchid，and she says：“It translated well.”Telling the story with her mother，translating it，becomes a way of bridging the gap between China，the Chinese language，and Chinese cultural traditions，and her heritage as a Chinese American speaker and writer.Another example comes from Susan Power's novelThe Grass Dancer，where the young boy，who has suffered greatly from the absence of any knowledge of his tribe，finally finds himself（at the end of the novel）singing the songs of his Native American tribe.What he hears is“the music of his own voice.”Through his language practices，he has gone from being unable to translate or even participate in this“foreign”culture to becoming a full member of it.And yet he is also completely part of“American”（mainstream）culture and language，at the same time.He，too，has learned to translate not only between languages，but also between an ethnic culture and a more dominant，more mainstream one.Translation becomes a metaphor for the attempt to bridge cultures and languages that many Ethnic American writers articulate.But it is a particularly resonant metaphor because a good translation is something entirely new—a work that felicitously places a source text into a new culture to create something that is unique.

Wang：You write on authors such as Sui Sin Far（Edith Eaton），Nella Larsen，Harriet Jacobs，Alice Walker，Toni Morrison，Maxine Hong Kingston，Zitkala-Sa，Kate Chopin，Charlotte Perkins Gilman，and Mary Wilkins Freeman.You deliberately select the women authors to study or it is accidental that you are just interested in them？

Cutter：Well，as I teach these authors，Ioften become interested in what they are doing and saying.Most of the pieces you reference above come out of questions and discussions in the classroom.So I guess I would say it is mutual—we choose each other.By the way，I have also written on male authors such as Charles Chesnutt，N.Scott Momaday，David Wong Louie，and Richard Rodriguez.But it is true—the women authors seem to call me to write about them more.Especially with Sui Sin Far，I felt for a long time that she had a hold on me，and really wanted me to write about her.

Wang：Edith Eaton，the first writer of Asian descent published in North America，was born to a Chinese mother and an English father.She wrote：Igive my right hand to the Occidentals and my left to the Orientals,hoping that between them they will not utterly destroy the insignificant“connecting link.”—“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian，”Mrs.Spring Fragrance and Other Stories.As she is beloved by Chinese scholar of Asian American studies，will you please indicate your line of thought on her statement？

Cutter：I have written about four articles on Edith Eaton（Sui Sin Far），so I have a few thoughts about this.Sui Sin Far was one of the first Asian American authors to write about what it means to be mixed race.The burdens of mixed race subjectivity did not always sit easily on her shoulders，however.Moreover she herself was somewhat frail.In the quote，I see her attempting to bring together her heritages as a Chinese and an American individual；she is the connecting link between cultures that are often configured as divergent.This bridging of cultures is certainly not an easy process，but the image does suggest how important and valuable this activity is.

Wang：You remain intrigued by the interrelationships between literary texts and cultural contexts，and your third book，Passing：The Strange Cultural and Historical Meaning of a Word，will trace the origins of racial passing and provide a cultural history of its changing significance in U.S.society from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century？

Cutter：Yes，that is true.The third book is trying to figure out why the subject of passing has had such a firm hold on the cultural and literary imagination of the United States for such a very long time（since at least 1740，right up to the present day，as witnessed by the recent furor over Elizabeth Warren's supposedly passing for Native American）.In this book Iam trying to chart the way that passing gets deployed over time either to shore up or challenge the idea of a racial binary，and to theorize what this concern means for the history of U.S.race relations.

Wang：It seems that the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States is moving or has moved to the center of the Literature of the United States.What is your view on this？

Cutter：I think this is a wonderful development.There is a lot of energy right now around the study of these writers.They speak very much to our contemporary moment.Even a text from the past—such as Frederick Douglass'sNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass，an American Slave（1845）—has a very great appeal for students，who appear to be hungry for the kind of knowledge of history and the past that Douglass brings.I taughtWaldenonce，and I just couldn't get the students interested.Perhaps this was my fault.I myself love the book，but found it difficult to teach.I think a lot of the energy we find around someone such as Kingston or Morrison has to do with the fact that their works teach very well.And also，both are brilliant writers.

Wang：You have researched into so many writers and taken so much responsibility in academic circle.How do you manage to divide your time？

Cutter：Well，sometimes I don't balance my activities as well as I should.What has suffered the most over the past ten years or so（while I've been editingMELUS，running a graduate program at my other university，and running African American studies here at UCONN），is the ability to concentrate on my own book-length projects.I am trying to be better，however，about making time for my books，because I think in our field（English），that is one of the prime ways that people earn a certain kind of status.My articles are frequently cited and reprinted，which I am happy to see.But I think it is primarily by my books that I am known.

My current schedule is to try as much as possible to devote the mornings（when my brain is freshest）to my current research projects，and then deal with other activities that are more administrative in nature in the afternoon.It is difficult，however，as the days often start with several crisis that I must attend to that have nothing to do with my research.But I will give younger scholars a piece of advice：save some of your brain's resources and your creativity for your own projects，and you will be a much happier and healthier person，to say nothing of being a better scholar.