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Title |
Multiple, Popular, Matriarchal: Historical Representation in Chen Yaochang’s A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa |
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Author |
Lin, Pei-Yin |
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Assistant Professor, School of Chinese, HKU; Harvard Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar (2015-16) |
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Abstract |
The study on Taiwan’s colonial experience has for a long while concentrated on the twentieth century. Following the publication of historical archives and relevant research in recent years, Taiwan’s history under the Dutch rule has gradually become the topic of Taiwanese writers. Employing Glissant’s “poetics of relation,” this essay provides a detailed textual analysis on the historical representation of Chen Yaochang’s 2012 novel A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa from three specific aspects: its multiple perspectives, popular portrait of Koxinga, and female-centric narration. It adopts the stance of new historicism, considering there is no absolute difference between fiction and history, as both fictional emplotment and historical narrative eventually lead to broad research in the humanities with an aim to show certain (if not all) previously excluded voices and viewpoints. On the basis of this understanding, the significance and necessity of “multi-tribe” narrative, and the forever-changing intertribal cultural interactions, can be fully appreciated. In addition, this essay scrutinizes this novel’s humanistic yet popular depiction of Koxinga’s dark side, exploring the narrative ethics and theoretical possibility concerning Taiwan’s identity and historical representation evoked through the novel’s focus on the Dutch females. |
