Abstract: In her childhood autobiography Homesick: My Own Story, Jean Fritz, an American missionary daughter, narrated her Chinese childhood memories, constructed and interpreted her own and other missionary kids’ inner complicated childhood emotion by employing the devices of identity narration and literary fiction and the like. Meanwhile, this book shows clearly that, in comparison with other types of autobiography, memory, emotion, and identity in childhood autobiography present different characteristics and functions. It is due to such differences that constitute intrinsic characteristics of childhood autobiography and differentiate it from other types of autobiography.

Key words: Homesick; childhood autobiography; memory; emotion; identity

Zhu Chunfa is an Associate Professor of Literature at Zhejiang University of Media and Communication. His current research interest is auto/biography.