earticle

영어

This article explores the theme of transnational identity as depicted through espionage in Ha Jin’s novel A Map of Betrayal in which Jin raises complex questions about dual loyalty and the relationship between the individual and the state within the narrative of a spy fiction. A Map of Betrayal deals with the life of Gary Shang, a double agent who is fictionally reconstructed from the true-life story of a top Chinese spy ‘Larry Wu-tai Chin’ (1922-86) who worked as a translator in the CIA. Initially the article discusses the trope of both the spy and Asian American immigrant who are suspected of being ‘inscrutable’ and ‘invisible’ in the American society. In A Map of Betrayal Jin interweaves the double narrative of the protagonist Gary Weimin Shang in the third person and the narrator, Lilian, his daughter, in the first person. This article also examines Jin’s double narrative strategy providing a plural vision of history by thematically and structurally complicating the double life of a spy and an Asian immigrant. Lastly, it discusses the contradiction of patriotism and belonging, drawing parallels between the writer Jin and the protagonist Gary and examines the possibility of their transnational identities.