Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, NCCU

Title SARS Epidemic Writing in Taiwanese Classical Author Li, Chih-Hau Director and Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Innovation, National Chung Cheng University Abstract In 2003, Taiwan faced the SARS epidemic caused by a novel coronavirus. Although the entire outbreak lasted for less than four months, this period has left a significant impact on Taiwanese society. Taiwanese classical poets also used the internet and poetry magazines to publish their works, depicting their experiences and feelings. They adopted a documentary writing style to fulfill the roles of poetry as historical evidence and a means to supplement history. In these poems, you can see the initial fear and shock experienced by the poets and society when the epidemic broke out, as well as the changing sentiments of people as the epidemic evolved. Initially, people reduced their social interactions out of fear of infection, or used traditional supernatural phenomena to describe the virus's hazard, fully displaying the atmosphere of fear in the early stages of the epidemic. As the government began to implement preventive measures, poets incorporated these measures into their works, expressing support for these actions. They combined classical and modern vocabulary, allowing their writing to reflect the unique characteristics of the times. Some poets went further to describe the transformation of people's mental states and the emotional ruptures in interpersonal relationships caused by the epidemic and preventive measures. For instance, measures such as hospital lockdown and home quarantine, while helping control the epidemic, led to stigmatization of healthcare workers and related personnel as bearers of the disease. This demonstrates that the epidemic not only caused physical health damage but also left emotional trauma in terms of interpersonal relationships. As the epidemic gradually subsided, the poets also documented the government's efforts to provide emotional solace to the families of the deceased and the general public, stimulate economic recovery in the post-epidemic era, and prepare for potential future virus threats. At different stages of the SARS epidemic, Taiwanese classical poets, through their documentary-style writing, left behind a testimony to Taiwan's history.  

Title Overshadowed by Ableism: Disabilities and "Bodies of Familial Shame" in Yuan Qiongqiong's Fiction from the Martial Law Period Author Chi, Ta-Wei Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, National Chengchi University Abstract This article identifies the disabilities shown in the texts of the first five story collections of Yuan Qiongqiong (1950-), all of which were published during the Martial Law Period. Inspired by the insights of emerging disability studies, the article urges the reader to recognize Yuan's contributions, habitually underestimated, to literal representations of disabilities. From these, the reader might scavenge images of disabilities visualized even prior to the promulgations of laws to secure the rights and dignities that people with disabilities deserve. As the term "disabilities," which connotates the awareness of disability rights, is both anachronistic and indispensable in discussions of Yuan's stories published in the 1970s and 1980s, the article strategically proposes "the bodies of familial shame," a notion to supplement rather than replace "disabilities." In the stories by Yuan discussed in the article, the plots often startle the reader not with the characters' physical or mental conditions but with reactions to the shame resulting from the ableist ideology among the disabled characters' families. For example, to protect themselves from the supposedly contagious shame associated with their disabled family members, seemingly able-bodied and able-minded characters might resort to verbal or physical abuse of their already suffering parents, spouses, siblings, or children. Therefore, even when family members are not apparently disabled, they are never free from ableism. Rather, they can simultaneously be both victims of and collaborators in this ableist ideology and are thus worthy of attention in literary disability studies.  

Title Finding Aura in the Ruins: An analysis of Wen-Yin Chung's Mother's Illness Trilogy Author Chen, Yun-Ju PhD student, Department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University Abstract Wen-Yin Chung is a prolific writer whose works traverse various genres, from prose, short stories, novella to novel. In 2016, Chung's mother suffered a stroke and had become ill ever since. Chung, who used to be a frequent traveler, was forced to return and embarked on a years-long journey as caretaker till her mother passed away in 2023. This paper explores caregiving, illness narrative and religious consciousness in Wen-yin Chung's "Mother's Illness Trilogy". The trilogy includes the collection of essays I Can't Bear not to See You, the novel Farewell, and the memoir Miss Mother Forever, all of which were written during the time the author took care of her sick mother. In the trilogy, Chung ruminates the truth about life and human affections to address her mother's illness by employing different writing strategies. Death is not a topic Chung never touched upon before, but she never scrutinized it with such profound respect. Writing the trilogy serves as an act of therapeutic self-care. The author learned about aging and mortality by exploring such critical issues as long-term care and end of life, especially for middle-aged children with elderly parents nowadays. On the other hand, religious consciousness in the trilogy distinguishes itself from other existing narratives of caregiving, illness and kinship. I argue that the way the author tackles her mother's death resembles the practice of "white skeleton meditation" in Buddhism. In the Buddhist funeral service, the recitation of Infinite Life Sutra (Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra) often invokes a colorful scene with a golden pond in the transition of life, but surprisingly, Chung envisions ruins of suffering and pain. She creates ruins that symbolize the author's dwelling and the mother's sick body. She sees both darkness and aura in the ruins. The trilogy chronicles the unbearable weight of death, the mourning of the dead, and how the author seeks inner peace as days go by. Transcendence and revelation only comes with unconditional love.  

Title Imprinted Situation: The Travel Narrative of Eagle, Goodbye and A Traveler in Cambodia Author Lin, Shu-Hui Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University Abstract Travel narratives not only record what you see and hear in foreign but also bear in mind people's living situations. Through on-site experience and empathy, it triggers connections between memories, the present, and the future, and provides an opportunity to explore the meaning of travel. This paper is based on Dadravan Yi Bao's Goodbye Eagle: A Paiwan Woman's Journey to Western Tibet and Liu, Shao-hua's Cambodian Traveler was used as research materials. Because the two authors have anthropological literacy, their travel narratives all involve pain, and they observe living situations at the geographical edge of Taiwan and Asia. It is interpreted from three aspects: the position and perspective of field observation, the exploration of inner pain triggered by travel, and the ethical concern of living situations. Yi Bao depicts the living plight of Paiwan and Tibetan people through oral history or in-depth conversations from the perspective of our ethnic group. The wizard's dream is used to deepen the image of the lake and connect it to the reborn self-identity narrative of the Paiwan tribe. Traveling to Tibet uses the story of the holy lake and purification to pray for the world. The text metaphorizes the two holy lakes as the source of life and symbols of hope. Liu, Shao-Hua analyzed the causes of social disasters in Cambodia and looked at the collective historical trauma or the people's lives under the control of the political and economic system. Due to the incident of the peasant woman who wandered to Phnom Penh, her pain finally returned. She asked in the first person how the social structure of various countries caused the plight of disadvantaged groups and brewed the practical ability to set out to the world again. These two travelogues reflect the overseas experiences of Tibet and Cambodia in comparison to their hometown in Taiwan. Through field observation combined with the perspective of historical interpretation, they reflect on the value of existence through self-dialogue. Travel triggers the exploration of inner pain or collective trauma, contains the power of healing and narrative, and has ethical significance in caring for the suffering of others and the world.  

Title The Blending of "Heart" and "Thing": On Tea Writing in Xiao Xiao's Prose Author Lee, Tsui-Ying Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Linguistics and Literature, Yuan-Ze University Abstract This paper takes Xiao Xiao's tea essays as the research field, tries to analyze the writing characteristics of Xiao Xiao's tea essays, and puts forward Xiao Xiao's philosophy of life and spiritual realm inspired by tea affairs. In the introduction, the origin of Xiao Xiao's tea writing and the problems that this paper tries to solve are presented. The second section is about the background of Xiao Xiao's tea writing and his works. In the third section, the worldview of "I am the emotion", the expression of natural imagery, the integration of object and heart, and the concept of "Bide" are explained to illustrate the writing style and performance of tea writing. In the fourth section, the spirit of the tea people, which is to understand the heart through objects, elaborates on the humanistic and materialistic aspects of tea and the moisturizing effect of tea on the heart. Trying to illustrate the dual approach of intellectual and sensual in Xiao Xiao's tea writing, as well as the philosophical thinking of life through the drinking and making of tea, through the relationship between mind and object, etc. Tea is the materialization of the integration of mind and matter, and through the elevation of the heart, it reveals a higher spiritual realm. From Xiao Xiao's tea essays, this article clarifies the empirical evidence of tea and nature to the lubrication of tea and the human heart, as well as the humanistic materialism and the spirit of the Tea People that are centered on tea.  

Title Book review of Chiu Kuei-Fen's The Global Path of Taiwanese Literature Author Lin, Pei-Yin Associate Professor, School of Chinese, The University of Hong Kong Abstract The Global Path of Taiwanese Literature (2023) represents the culmination of Chiu Kuei-Fen's extensive scholarly dedication to the exploration of indigeneity and global concerns within Taiwanese literature. It stands as an exemplary work within the field of Taiwanese literary research. The book raises a fundamental yet significant question: in today's globalized society, how can Taiwanese literature, as a non-Western dominant literary tradition, facilitate greater access for non-Chinese readers beyond Taiwan to engage with its literary offerings? Comprised of six chapters, the book delves into a range of topics. Chapter One elucidates why Taiwanese literature aligns with Casanova's notion of "small literature." Chapter Two, the book's most theoretically rich chapter, critically examines research paradigms such as "World Chinese Literature," "Sinophone Literature," and "World Literature." Chapter Three explores the cosmopolitanism inherent in Taiwanese literature in the new century. Chapter Four, utilizing the writings of Wu Ming-Yi as a case study, analyzes how Taiwanese literature, as a "small literature," can be embraced by English-speaking readers. The final two chapters extend the inquiry beyond conventional print literature, examining the feasibility and limitations of mediums such as the documentary Le Moulin and Ng Kim Chew's concept of the "Republic of Southern Sinophone Literature." This book not only invites a reexamination of the "big" and "small" debates within the global literary landscape, but also provokes contemplation regarding the diverse literary factions within Taiwan's internal literary system.