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Title |
South, Memory, and Colonial Youth in the 1940s: A Discussion on the Landscape Construction of Nakamura Chihei and Lung Ying-tsung’s Autobiographical Novels |
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Author |
Lo, Shih-Yun |
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Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Chinese Literature, National Chengchi University／ PhD Candidate, Graduate Institute of Taiwanese literature, National Chengchi University |
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Abstract |
In accordance with Mike Crang’s definition of literature and for aspects of place and spatial constructions, landscape description could be treated as the kind of ideographic system. In other words, shaping the landscape not only is considered as a potential performance of social ideology, but also the interaction between people and place. However, the development of Taiwanese literature during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) has often been evaluated within political ideology and attitude formation that has sacrificed the interpretable spaces that literary significant. Under such a view, we must reread within inner context of colonial literary scenery under Japanese colonial rule. When we observe the representation of natural scenery of colonial intellectuals, Taiwanese texts during the colonial period, especially from the 1940s, we must see symbolizing of cultural constructions of that era. Therefore, this article will examine Taiwanese colonial author’s autobiographical writings from the 1940s. These texts will include Nakamura Chihei’s Fresh Green leaves (Aoba Wakaba, 1942) and Lung Ying-tsung’s series of autobiographical stories: White Mountains (1941), Tequila and the Moon (1943), The Men on Cliff (1943), and The Sounds of Ocean Waves (1944). All these texts belong to author’s autographical stories from their youth and life experience in colonial Taiwan. This paper explores textual representations and symbols of colonial Taiwanese landscapes from Japanese and Taiwanese authors’ autobiographical writings. We will discuss how they represent subject memories for the “South” during the Japanese colonial period. This paper also sheds light on the construction process of Taiwanese landscapes that express the significance of Taiwan beyond the political spectrum. |
