Askold Melnyczuk’s novel Ambassador of the Dead (2001) narrates the process through which a second-generation, assimilated American learns to comprehend the Ukrainian historical experience of his family and their generation. This article argues that the novel is centrally concerned with Nick’s learning process: as he begins to better understand his parents’ generation, he transforms his own identity. As a child, Nick is unable to see Ada — his friend’s mother, who is haunted by traumatic experiences — as anything other than an unchanging, incomprehensible enigma: “Old World Syndrome.” Eventually, Nick comes to follow the example of Anton, a displaced Ukrainian who narrates a story-within-the-novel that returns Ada’s experiences to their historical and cultural contexts, while using magical realism to place her Ukrainian experience on a historical scale. Through Anton’s example, Nick learns how to see both Ada and his parents as complex historical actors in world history. Understanding the past then enables him to see himself as Ukrainian and claim an identity that is both Ukrainian and American.

中文翻译：

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从旧世界综合症到历史：Askold Melnyczuk的《死者大使》中的过去

Askold Melnyczuk的小说《死者大使》（2001）讲述了第二代同化美国人学会了解乌克兰人对其家人及其后代的历史经历的过程。本文认为，这部小说与尼克的学习过程密切相关：随着尼克开始更好地了解父母的世代，他改变了自己的身份。小时候，尼克无法看到艾达（Ada）（他的朋友的母亲，她的母亲被痛苦的经历困扰），除了不变的，难以理解的谜团：“旧世界综合症”。最终，尼克（Nick）效仿了流离失所的乌克兰人安东（Anton）的故事，他讲述了一个新颖的故事，使艾达（Ada）的经历回到了他们的历史和文化背景中，同时运用神奇的现实主义将她的乌克兰经历置于历史的规模上。通过安东的例子，尼克学习了如何将艾达和他的父母视为世界历史上复杂的历史演员。然后，了解过去使他能够将自己视为乌克兰人，并声称自己是乌克兰人和美国人。