|
Title |
From Communicative Memory to Cultural Memory: Writings about Beiping Homesickness in Taiwan Food Literature (1960-1980s) |
|
Author |
Chen, Yu-Jen |
|
Assistant Professor, Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University |
|
|
Abstract |
This article explores food literature from the 1960s to 1980s published in Taiwan, focusing on writings on Beiping homesickness, which is a significant theme during this period. Shedding lights on the social aspects of food literature, this article argues that food writings constitute a space where communicative memory can be formed and further transformed into cultural memory which can be passed down from generation to generation. The process that communicative memory can be transformed into cultural memory involves in the textualization and intellectualization of memory, the social networks of these writers, and the shared cultural identity embodied in their strong yearn for Beiping. These writers viewed Beiping as their hometown while some of them were not born in this city. While the concepts of “communicative memory vs. cultural memory” elaborated by the German scholar Jan Assmann has provided insightful analytical scheme, this research of Taiwan food literature further suggests that bodily memory is also key to understand the formation of food memory since eating, dining and cooking are behaviors achieved by body and sensual perceptions. Through the bodily memories, cultural memories are practiced and acted as a form of knowledge, strengthening the value of “traditional foodways” represented in food literature. |
