Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, NCCU

Title A Nostalgic Trajectory at the Other Time: The Comparison Between Tong Wei-Ge’s North-West Rain and Lin Jun-Ying’s The Nostalgia That Dare Not Speak Its Name Author Su, Wei-Chen Distinguished Professor, Department of Chinese Literature, National Cheng Kung University Abstract Since the beginning of the 21st century, Taiwan nativist literature has expended geographical coordinates to incorporate urban issues, especially Tong Wei-Ge’s North-West Rain and Lin Jun-Ying’s The Nostalgia That Dare not Speak its Name retains resonance factors that can be identified, such as urban and village, historic and modern space. Particularly, among those characters are in between authentic and illusionary, whence to recall memories to respond nostalgic trajectory, by so doing, it is to build a passage of “the other time”, and the memories that being re-called figurative a non-mundane existence. The Russian-American scholar Svetlana Boym claims that in the face of globalization and cyborg interfaces human with technology, “place associated with spatiality is not only transgressed but also virtualized.” But no matter how virtualized a place is, human beings cannot but need somewhere to return. Instead of merely referring to the myth of homesickness (how, where, and in which way we return), this study conducts Boym’s idea of nostalgia which shares similar sentiments of homesickness and expands to nostalgic spaces. The visual imagination of the physical attributes of city ruins and building sites serves as a critique of globalization. To Boym, nostalgia provides “a survival strategy or a trajectory of finding meanings in the impossibility of homecoming” to those leaving or unable to return to hometown. By taking Boym’s redefinition of nostalgia, this study reads how Tong’s and Lin’s works call forth homesick memories through a lens of nostalgia. A trajectory of “the other time” is argued to be built upon a non-worldly temporality of memories, allowing us to go back and forth between past and now, country and city, the path of Anarchism brings us to the core of the being in the world: how to write your soul.

Title Where the Memory Is: Cultural Activities and Memory Politics of Taiwan-Japanese in the Early Post-war Period Author Wang, Hui-Chen Professor, Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Tsing Hua University Abstract In this historical context, this article will re-examine the cultural activities and social observations of the people in the intellectuals’ circles of Taiwan-Japanese. How did they “Repeat” Taiwan’s memory after leaving Taiwan and look back at the “Taiwanese native land” of the colony? What kind of memory politics is presented? First of all, illustrate the contents of Taiwan’s memory in the early post-war period, including the memory narrative of the Chinese military and the Taiwanese reaction, the historical testimony of the 228 incident, the mourning for Taiwanese friends, and the rumor narrative of the suicide in the eastern cliff. Secondly, define the cultural activities of Taiwan-Japanese in Taiwan, such as compilation, drama activities, and engravings. Finally, examine the memory writings of the early Taiwan-Japanese writers in the post-war period. Among them, Nishikawa’s(西川滿) novels mostly use Taiwan’s landscape as a stage of novels, and the objects of depiction are used to lay out plots, exotic sentiments, Taiwan nostalgia, and colonial reflections. However, in addition to colonial reflection, Hamada Hiroshi(濱田隼雄) pays more attention to the details and interaction process of character exchanges in the novel, including his dealings with mainlander engravings Huang Rong-can(黃榮燦) and Taiwanese student Lin Suqin(林素琴) in the early post-war period. In short, by sorting out the various memory texts in the early post-war period, we can re-understand the memory of Taiwan-Japanese in Taiwan. They actively rebuild Taiwanese culture and memory Taiwan by crossing the times, across nationalities, and across languages.

Title Splendid China - Reconstruction of Chinese geography Under Anti-communism Author Choi, Mal-Soon Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, National Chengchi University Abstract This research aims to investigate the journal articles related to the reconstruction of the memory of Chinese geography during the period of anti-communism. While reviewing comprehensive literary magazines such as Unhindered Flows and The Rambler published in the 1950s in Taiwan, one can easily find plenty of articles about the memory of Chinese geography. Classic scenic landscapes and historic relics frequently appear in these articles, as a medium for nostalgia, a reaffirmation of classic aesthetic, and moreover, a mental foundation of counterattack against the mainland. For example, Dilatation upon splendid China published in 1975 is an integrated combination of the reconstruction of Chinese geography and a comprehensive display of Chinese territory. The book is written by Sifen Guo and decorated by Naiyong Chen with more than 700 delicate illustrations. In this book, the Chinese territory is divided into 6 regions and then written in 40 sections according to provinces. The geographical location, topographical features, history, development overview, population distribution, climate and special products are all described in details as the basic knowledge of a national ruler. The historic relics, anecdotes, and natural landscapes are also introduced. From the view of memory politics and spatial identity, this research paper attempts to inquiry into the meaning of and reasons for the abundant articles related to the reconstruction of Chinese geography during the period of anti-communism. At here, the word “memory” is a common cultural and experience rather than experience by an individual. Therefore, it is crucial to realize the social process which forms, propagates, and remakes the “memory”, and it is also important to understand the political power and ideology which control that process. Investigation of the cultural value of the society, the characteristics of the group and the trajectory of traditional culture is also needed. This research paper demonstrates the analysis of the reconstruction of Chinese geography in articles by immigrated literati from China to Taiwan under anti-communism, and the investigation on their political, social and cultural roles. The above work is a part of the author’s research on the ideology of anti-communism, and this is also an academic foundation of understanding the generation of social knowledge and its discussion structure in the period of anti-communism.

Title The Discursive Positions of Taiwan-based Women Authors During the Cold War Era: An Exploration of the Works of Su Hsueh-Lin and Hsieh Ping-Ying Published in “University Life” Author Wang, Yu-Ting Associate Professor, Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Tsing Hua University Abstract “University Life”, a periodical published by Hong Kong’s Union Press during the era of U.S. aid culture, has largely been overlooked in scholarly research on the literature of this period. This paper examines works written by Taiwan-based women authors and published in “University Life” during the 1950s in order, firstly, to discuss the nature and character of the creative efforts of these writers, as influenced by the contemporary Cold War milieu and by the filter of being accepted and published in an overseas Chinese publication, and, secondly, to further examine the Taiwan-Hong Kong cultural ecology during the Cold War era. These authors are treated in this paper as female intellectuals. The concept of intersectionality and appropriate research methods are applied firstly to critique and delineate the positions of two authors, Su Hsueh-lin and Hsieh Ping-ying, and then to consider the intersections among nationality, class, and gender. The natural intersections thus elucidated between contemporary national discourse and culture and the Cold War, respectively, are used to reveal the complicated nature of the positions of these two authors and then, subsequently, to interpret the unique role played by Taiwan-based women authors in influencing contemporary Chinese education in Southeast Asia within the context of Taiwan’s “Free China” literary and artistic institutions. The target audience of the cultural messaging in “University Life” was primarily overseas Chinese youth living in Southeast Asia. Thus, in terms of their contributions to this publication, Su Hsueh-lin and Hsieh Ping-ying served both as spiritual advisors to overseas Chinese youth and as cultural educators, promoting core perspectives on literature and the arts. This unique role brought new audiences to Taiwan’s women writers and new opportunities to define themselves in a myriad of discursive positions as well as created a new paradigm for women’s literature that reflected contemporary realities and needs.

Title World Literature in Chinese, Sinophone Literature, and World Literature: Yang Mu and Three Theoretical Frameworks for Taiwan Literary Studies Author Chiu, Kuei-Fen Distinguished Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies, National Chung Hsing University Abstract In the 1990s, Taiwan literature successfully defined itself as a distinct body of writing that can be differentiated from Chinese literatures produced elsewhere. The new century brings a new task: how to situate Taiwan literature within cross-cultural contexts in an increasingly globalized world? This paper investigates three new theoretical frameworks for the study of Taiwan literature in the 21st century: the so-called “world literature in Chinese”, Sinophone literature, and world literature. These three frameworks are cross-cultural in the sense that they provide a conceptual scheme of understanding Taiwan literature in relation to literatures in other parts of the world. We trace the emergence of these three theoretical frameworks respectively, and identify their core concepts and methodologies. We then conduct an analysis of their strength and limitations by situating the renowned Taiwanese poet Yang Mu within the theoretical frameworks. As a well-respected and highly internationally recognized Taiwan-based literary figure of Chinese literature, Yang Mu is known for his blending of Chinese and Western literary traditions. His works draw upon different cultural traditions, and they travel across countries. Yang Mu represents Taiwan’s cross-cultural writing at its best. While the contributions of the three theoretical frameworks should be duly acknowledged, it is also important that we tease out the intricate meanings of their limitations. We argue that the gap between Yang’s “rooted cosmopolitanism” and the so-called “common poetics” or “diaspora poetics” proposed by the proponents of world literature in Chinese urges for a more critical reflection on the complex meanings of “the locale” for Chinese literatures in different parts of the world. We also find that Yang Mu’s insistence on the use of beautifully crafted Chinese language and the importance of Chinese literary resources for Taiwanese creative writing suggests a paradigm that runs against the Sinophone critique of Chinese language and literary tradition. Finally, we examine how the conceptualization of Yang Mu as a world literature writer points to a theoretical approach to Taiwan literature that is not premised on identity politics. While only a few Taiwan writers can be identified as world literature writers, “world literature” as a concept may open a new space for connecting Taiwan literature to a large body of literary works written in languages other than Chinese.

Title On the Theorization of Indigenous Studies: Assessing the Implications of Post-Colonialism, Sinology Author Chiang, Bao-Chai Terry Russell Professor, Department of Chinese Literature and the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Creative Innovation, National Chung Cheng University Senior Scholar, Asian Studies Center, University of Manitoba Abstract Beginning in the last century, the influence of Marxist concern for the proletariat and economic infrastructure, as well as Liberalism’s discourse on the protection of individual freedom have made their presence felt in heightened academic interest in the plight of disenfranchised groups around the world. This is but one aspect of the process by which post-modernism and post-colonialism have become the most popular analytical theories in Western academe over the past in the past three to four decades. Although there is no direct connection between the historical factors contributing to the development of post-modern and post-colonial theory on the one hand, and the historical experience and lived conditions of Indigenous peoples on the other, the social and political phenomena with which post-colonialism concerns itself share a number of common points of interest with those issues of interest to Indigenous studies. This is especially so with the rise of subaltern studies, a branch of post-colonial studies developed among a group of Indian scholars in the 1980s. As Jodi A. Byrd and Michael Rothberg have pointed out, Indigenous people have also been relegated to subaltern situations. Since subaltern studies, like Indigenous studies, deals extensively with economic, social and political situation of disenfranchised peoples, it has much relevance in the study of the present condition of Indigenous peoples. For this reason, although contradictions cannot be avoided, there are numerous reasons why subaltern theory is appropriately applied to the analysis of issues within the context of Indigenous studies. In Taiwan, due to the fact that Indigenous peoples have long lived under the control of Han (Chinese) settlers, their everyday language, whether it be the rhetoric of creative work or of intellectual discourse, has inevitably come to be dominated by the terms of Sinitic language. Thus, Sinophone language has become the choice of Indigenous peoples as they engage with the academic mainstream. What literary or cultural theories are appropriately applied in Indigenous studies? This paper attempts to approach the theorization of Indigenous studies from within the context of Sinophone studies, and to suggest some possible lines of development. We ask whether it is possible for post-colonial studies, and for Sinophone studies, the principles of which are just in the process of being established, to join hands with Indigenous studies in challenging Euro-American-centrism and Sinocentrism to develop an entirely new manner of dealing with Indigenous issues.