|
Title |
The Idea of Sacredness in Yang Mu's Hua-lien Poems |
|
Author |
Li, Wen-Chi |
|
PhD candidate, University of Zurich |
|
|
Abstract |
This thesis examines how Yang Mu enriches the story of his hometown with mythic content and retells Indigenous history in an animistic way. He sees Hua-lien as a source of everything, and as a place where the god of Mount Papaya, the goddess of Li-wu Stream, and the god of the Pacific Ocean appear. Moreover, a sense of topophilia leads Yang to include the Indigenous story of the Kaliawan Incident (加禮宛戰役). He imagines himself as a young Indigenous fighter who, after the massacre, dies and still haunts the battlefield. What he sees is not merely an objective outer world, but also a world with spiritual plants, animals, and rocks. If China tends to create a discourse that sees itself as central and differentiates its surrounding regions by decreasing values, Yang Mu's local and supernatural poems demonstrate a focal transition to Taiwan and a refusal to accept Chinese totality. |
