Mobility and Identity: Traveling Writings of Rita Dove’s Poetry

作为美国文学史上首次获得桂冠诗人称号的非裔女作家，丽塔·达夫秉持世界主义的文化理想，其诗歌创作始终围绕旅行主题。旅行的流动带来文化边界的消解，达夫的文化身份在旅行和流动过程中发生改变，旅行者逃离禁锢、对抗主流身份，彰显流动的本质。本文拟采用流动性和文化身份研究理论，结合齐格蒙特·鲍曼等学者关于旅行、流动和身份的理论和观点，从三个维度分析丽塔·达夫旅行书写中流动与身份的相互关联——四处漂泊的游牧艺术家、无家可归的过客女人和世界主义的公民，展示流动性的文学表征和社会文化内涵在文化身份方面的诗学构想。As the first African American woman poet laureate in American literary history, Rita Dove upholds the cultural ideal of cosmopolitanism, with travel constituting the enduring theme of her poetic creation. The fluidity of travel dissolves cultural boundaries, transforming Dove’s cultural identity throughout journeys and mobility. Travelers escape confinement and resist mainstream identities, manifesting the essential nature of fluidity. This paper employs theories of mobility and cultural identity studies, integrating perspectives on travel, mobility, and identity from scholars such as Zygmunt Bauman. It analyzes the interconnections between mobility and identity within Rita Dove’s travel writing across three dimensions: the nomadic artists on the move, the homeless transient women, and the cosmopolitan citizen. This analysis demonstrates the poetic conception of cultural identity embedded within the literary representations of mobility and their socio-cultural implications.