Orientalism in Amy Tan"s the Hundred Secret Senses and Saving Fish From Drowning

Orientalist theory which has emerged under postcolonial studies has been used by many literary and social critics since the beginning of the 1990s. First analyzed and discussed by Edward Said, Orientalist theory is primarily concerned with how Eastern countries, culture and people are perceived and reflected as ?the other? by the Western World. By representing and othering the East in various negative ways and by creating an opposition in which the East is inferior, the West validates its superiority over Eastern culture and its people. In this way, negative biases against the Eastern world and derogatory Eastern stereotypes are also reinforced. This negative gaze and approach towards the East has also emerged in various branches of Western art and literature.The internalization of Orientalism as a Western ideology can be detected in the novels of Chinese American writer, Amy Tan, who is also one of the best-selling ethnic fiction writers in the United States. However, even though she is a representative of Asian American literature Amy Tan rejects being categorized as one. While introducing Eastern culture and its people in her novels and making them familiar to her Western readers, Tan actually fosters negative stereotyped images attributed to the East and the Easterner. She reflects the East and the Easterner as ?the other.? There are various reasons for Amy Tan to internalize such a Western ideology as an ethnic writer with an Asian background. This study basically aims to explore the Orientalist elements in Amy Tan?s two novels The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005) as well as the reasons why the writer employs Orientalism.Key Words: 1) Amy Tan, 2) Orientalism, 3) Asian-American Literature,4) Postcolonial Theory, 5) The Hundred Secret Senses, 6) Saving Fish from Drowning.