在出版第五本小說力作《防魚溺水》(2005)之際，著名亞裔美籍作家譚恩美開展嶄新的創作題材—全球化及其對現代人的影響。本論文旨在記錄譚恩美由少數族裔作家轉型為著重於全球化相關議題與影響的「全球化作家」之心路歷程。為追溯導致作者轉變之因素，筆者遍尋譚恩美的生命經驗與寫作當時之社會現況。在了解作者對身為亞美作家之焦慮後，將深入探討其新作品如何反映出譚恩美的新身分—全球化作家。譚恩美在小說中敘述全球媒體與跨國旅遊對第一世界及第三世界的個別影響實為全書之精華部分。且因作者與布希亞皆談及全球媒體對現代人之操控，特採後者的擬象觀念做為比較，試圖釐清譚恩美對全球化的觀感。然而當布希亞醉心於擬象，而忽略真實世界中之人類時，譚恩美對於緬甸當地少數民族庫倫族之關懷，正好可突顯當前人類生活被擬象全盤控制之危機。總結而言，藉由邁向全球化作者之路徑，譚恩美企圖開拓更多寫作議題，以避免繼續拘「溺」於旁人對她作品的錯誤解讀。

With the publication of her fifth novel, Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), famous Asian American writer Amy Tan moves forward from her familiar themes to a brand-new one—globalization and its impact on modern people. This thesis proposes to record her path from an ethnic writer to a “global writer,” whose writing tends to concentrate on issues related to globalization and its impact on the world. To understand her intention to change, I look for possible factors from her personal life and socio-historical circumstances of the time she writes. After realizing Tan’s anxiety to be a Chinese American writer over years, I take a step further to see how her new novel reflects her new identity as a global writer. Tan’s comment on the influences of global media and transnational tourism on the First World as well as on the Third World is the essential part of the novel. Also, to give a clearer illustration of Tan’s observation on globalization, Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulation serves as a comparison, for both of them focus on the manipulation of global media on modern people. Yet, while Baudrillard fails to shed light on human beings but the simulacra, Tan’s depiction of the Karen people, a Burmese local tribe, serves as a complement of the terror of the precession of simulation at the present time. By taking the path toward a global writer, Amy Tan embraces diverse issues other than Chinese elements and is no longer “drowned” in limited interpretations.

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