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Title |
Derivative Works as a Form of a Literary Work's Afterlife: On Derivative Poems of Yang Mu's "Someone Asked Me about Questions of Justice and Righteousness" |
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Author |
Zhan, Min-Xu |
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Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies, National Chung Hsing University |
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Abstract |
When discussing the afterlife of literature, the focus often falls on translation or cross-media adaptations of literary works. This article aims to analyze derivative works as a form of a literary work's afterlife, thereby opening up new avenues for discourse. It selects Yang Mu (1940-2020), "Someone Asked Me about Questions of Justice and Righteousness" and its derivative poems as a case study. In 1984, Yang Mu composed a lengthy poem titled "Someone Asked Me about Questions of Justice and Righteousness," which delved into themes of provincial identification, identity struggle, and fusion of ethnicities. Interestingly, since 2010, we have consistently come across Yang Mu's poem from nearly forty years ago circulating on social media. Moreover, there have been numerous derivative poems paying homage to this particular work, such as Hong Chong-De (1988-), "I Want to Ask You Questions of Justice and Righteousness" and Liu Wai-Tong (1975-), "Someone Asked Me about Questions of Justice and Righteousness again." While this poem is not Yang Mu's sole expression of societal concern, nor is it the only social poem in the Taiwanese poetry scene, it has generated a significant number of derivative works that deserves in-depth examination. The research objective of this article is two-fold: first, tracing the background of derivative works of Yang Mu's poem, and second, comparing the different discourses of justice presented in these derivative works. |
