Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, NCCU

Title Literary Field in Wartime Taiwan: A Case Study of the Literary World System Author Chang, Sung-Sheng Professor, Department of Asian Studies Program in Comparative Literature, The University of Texas at Austin Abstract In recent years, many scholars have tried to develop a set of nonexclusivist frameworks to re-discuss “world literature”. Despite the pervasive impact of postcolonialist and multiculturalist discourses, however, the attention paid to modern literatures from the East Asian region pales in comparison to studies of the Anglophone and Francophone literatures produced in former Western colonies. This is caused, in my view, not only by a knowledge deficit, in terms of empirical facts, but also by a lack of systematic examination of the distinctive dynamics, internal cross-currents, and shared patterns of modern literary development within the region. A sociologically oriented approach promises to fruitfully address this issue. This article treats the development of the literary field in wartime Taiwan as a case study. It examines some key aesthetic issues related to the restructuring of the literary field during the first few years of the 1940s, with the ultimate goal of identifying some commonly seen modalities of literary developments in modern East Asian societies. For instance, as latecomers to the modern world, these societies are frequently subject to political interventions resulting in paradigmatic shifts in cultural production, including drastic restructuring of the literary field through a new set of principles of inclusion and exclusion. Rather than focusing on violence against arbitrarily excluded literary agents, it is time to also more systematically investigate the structural forces that enable cultural production in the new period. Also, the field, restructured by extrinsically and arbitrarily motivated forces, nonetheless assumes structural qualities essential to its normative model, and as a result the political power dynamics are mediated by aesthetic positions, albeit emphatically in a sociohistorically inflected manner. Moreover, the competing aesthetic positions within the field inevitably register influences from literary models of the hegemonic West, and therefore it is imperative for scholars to carefully trace the multilayered genealogies of these positions. Another notable feature deserving attention is that, as a majority of East Asian cultural fields in reality enjoy a rather low degree of autonomy, their participants must deploy different kinds of coping strategies to fend off immediate pressures, and as a result develop certain types of habitus. The situation becomes even more strained when society enters a state of emergency, and even a minimum degree of cultural normalcy can no longer be maintained.

Title Research on Lian Heng’s Interpretation and Writings about Taiwanese Singsong Girls’ Culture Author Chiang, Pao-Chai Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Creative Innovation, National Chung Cheng University Abstract During the Japanese colonial occupation, the traditional literati Lian Heng was a usual visitor to the brothel. He wrote down lots of literary works in different genres such as notes, poetry, essays, and contributed a lot to reserve the female records, writings and songs. His contribution helps us fill the missing puzzle of our understanding about how the three types of Chinese traditional activities, such as she fu cang gou (射覆藏鉤), dou ming qiao shi (鬥茗敲詩), chuan lu ping chun (傳臚評春) were held in the brothel, how the singsong girls communicated with the literati, and how the contradictory feels about gender expressed. However, his writing was in a form of scattered fragments, which offers us a new perspective of why the traditional literati was so much obsessed with the brothel and the singsong girls. In addition, his writings have also uncovered the multiple meanings and values of his conflicting attitude toward gender imaginations.

Title Post-war Publications in Taiwan by Chinese poets in Singapore and Malaysia: Using the Chinese Poetry Court (1955-1967) as Research Focus Author Li, Chi-Hau Assistant Professer, the General Education, National Formosa University Abstract Chinese Poetry Court was a crucial Chinese poetry journal in post-war Taiwan and was later renamed Chinese Arts Court. Chinese Arts Court featured multiple columns to attract readers from various backgrounds. Furthermore, Chinese Arts Court had a column titled “New Voices from Overseas” that published the work of poets from multiple countries; numerous poets from Singapore and Malaysia published their work here. In this study, we identified poets in Singapore or Malaysia who published their work in “New Overseas Voice” and described their lives. Finally, we presented statistical information regarding these poets’ publications. We discovered that the poets who published their work in these journals were mostly from Singapore, Penang, Sarawak or North Borneo(Sabah). In addition, some poet groups published their work or participated in group activities in other countries, and even gave excellent performances in poetry competitions held by Chinese Poetry (Arts) Court. Therefore, Chinese poets in Singapore or Malaysia often used this publication to interact with other Chinese poets in Taiwan or elsewhere, thereby facilitating Chinese poetry communication between post-war Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Title The Post-Empiral Eyes and the Culture fragments of Colony─Taiwan writing and Flowing Identity in《南風如歌》 Author Yang, Hui-Lin Ph.D Student, Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages, Literature, National Taiwan Normal University Abstract The purpose of this paper is trying to clarify the interpretations of the identity related to Wansei (Taiwan-born Japanese) by analyzing the writing in the book《南風如歌─一位日本阿嬤的臺灣鄉愁》. The first perspective: Hometown-Taiwan to Wansei is a” coagulated time-space”--- it based on Japanese Identity and be effective only during Japanese colonization period, not include contemporary Taiwan. The second perspective : Cause of similar social situation in Post-war, some Taiwanese and Wansei found the Imagined Community out of National Identity after colonial period. However, this Imagined Community is very unstable and complicated, it disintegrates easily with the diversification of interaction. At last we could understand that Wansei chose Taiwan as the place for long stay at their old age not only means the emotional connection with Taiwan but also represents the Japanese government’s population policies of different eras having encounters in their former colony, Taiwan, across the times.