Abstract: Chinese Canadian novelist Larissa Lais debut novel When Fox Is a Thousand revises Chinese folk tales about fox. Together with unique juxtaposition narration and the adoption of typical Chinese cultural images, it depicts a selfidentified quest of Chinese immigrants in Western culture. Based on figureground theory from poetics, the narrative features, female characters, Chinese cultural image like the fox as well as Yu Xuanji were analyzed to have a better understanding of the theme information behind figures.

Key words: When Fox Is a Thousand, figureground, selfidentified quest, theme

摘要： 加拿大华裔女作家拉丽莎·赖凭借作品《千年狐》重写中国有关狐狸的传说故事，以独特的双线并行的叙事特点和散发浓厚中国传统文化气息意象的选取，描绘出一条华裔在异域文化中的自我身份寻求之旅。本文从认知诗学中的图形—背景理论出发，分析作品的叙述特点、作品中的女性角色，以及狐狸、鱼玄机等中国文化意象，挖掘图形之后的主题信息。

关键词: 《千年狐》, 图形—背景, 自我身份的寻求, 主题意义