馬華女作家方娥真是一九七○、八○年代令臺、馬兩地文壇驚豔的女作家。詩人余光中讚許她為「繆斯最鍾愛的幼女」，無形中奠定了方娥真長久以來在讀者心目中的「幼女」形象。然而，幼女是否不曾成長，或至少有過成長的意念？方娥真具有強烈「自身故事」指涉的長篇小說《畫天涯》，以其顯見的「女性氣質的」語言與形式，敘述女性在特定環境下的生存狀況，進而在某種程度上揭示六、七○年代馬華女性的生命經驗，無疑是讀者藉以理解上述問題的理想文本。本文即以此自傳體小說為對象，分別從女性主體與文化身份之形塑的層面探討這個問題。

Fang E’zhen, a Chinese Malaysian female writer, was greatly admired in the literary arenas of both Malaysia and Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s. The renowned poet Yu Kwang-chung once praised her as “the most endearing little girl of Muse.” Yu’s recognition has virtually shaped the public image of Fang E’zhen. However, has the “little girl” ever grown up or at least has the notion of growing up? Hua Tianya, a novel by Fang, which exhibits a distinct voice of autodiegetic narration, no doubt is an ideal text to clarify this question. It depicts the living conditions of women in particular circumstances through an apparent “feminine” language and style, and to an extent reveals the life experiences of Chinese Malaysian female in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on this autobiographical novel, this paper aims to discuss the above questions from the aspects of female subjectivity and cultural identity.