Research Interests: History and Colonialism
Since the early 1980s, the boom in historical writing embedded within the expanding Taiwanese nativist consciousness has been highly valued by both Taiwanese writers and humanities researchers. However, a new wave of historical writing by... more
Since the early 1980s, the boom in historical writing embedded within the expanding Taiwanese nativist consciousness has been highly valued by both Taiwanese writers and humanities researchers. However, a new wave of historical writing by those of the Millennial generation, born after the 1980s, has gained greater attention in recent years and deserves closer examination. This group of writers matured in the age of radical Taiwanese nativist consciousness, transnational capitalism, and the rapid development of communication media. It is in this sense that their writings have completely different artistic styles and thematic concerns than that of the preceding generations. This article uses Huang Chong-kai’s The Contents of the Times (2017) as its object of analysis to illustrate the characteristics and concerns of historical writing by Taiwanese Millennial writers. It contends that the media plays a pivotal role in Huang Chong-kai’s literary works and applies the theoretical framework of media memory study to reveal the dialectical relationship among history, memory and media found in The Contents of the Times.
Research Interests:
This article explores the framework of indigenous-Han relations in Taiwan literature in the early 21st century. Current scholarships on the representations of indigenous people by Han Taiwanese writers tend to focus on the indigenous-Han... more
This article explores the framework of indigenous-Han relations in Taiwan literature in the early 21st century. Current scholarships on the representations of indigenous people by Han Taiwanese writers tend to focus on the indigenous-Han relations formulated within a binary opposition and the writing ethics behind it. However, in contrast to “the victimized indigenous people vs. Han settlers” model in the late 20th century, this article calls attentions to two novel in the early 21st century, which situate the indigenous-Han relations in the historical context of the geographical expansion of global colonialism and the wartime. It uses textual analysis of Li Yongping's Where the Great River Ends (2008, 2010) and Kan Yao-ming's Killing Ghosts (2009) to examine the cross-ethnic encounters among indigenous peoples, Chinese settlers, and Western/Japanese colonizer. Such a reading may help 10 reframe the more complex and diverse indigenous-Han relations.
Research Interests:
From the southern literature during the Japanese colonial period, the Post-war memory writing of the Pacific War, to the southern Sinophone literature written by writers from the Southeast Asian countries, the southern imagination emerged... more
From the southern literature during the Japanese colonial period, the Post-war memory writing of the Pacific War, to the southern Sinophone literature written by writers from the Southeast Asian countries, the southern imagination emerged repeatedly is undoubtedly an important issue. In recent years, Taiwanese millennial writers have consciously written about the South, showing a new stage of the southern imagination. This paper intends to discuss the Southern vision in Mingwei Lien’s “The Confession of Blueberry Nights” with the hope of outlining the new vision of the South in the early 21st century. This short stories collection uses a Taiwanese working holiday maker who worked in a five-star hotel in Canada to describe the life traces of the subaltern southern immigrants from Africa, Asia, and South America. On the other hand, it brings out the issues of “working holiday” and “Taiwanese migrant workers” and other important debates in contemporary Taiwanese society.
從日本殖民時期的南方殖民地文學、戰後的太平洋戰爭記憶書寫、到出身東 南亞國家書寫的南方華文文學，南方想像一再浮現。近幾年，台灣千禧世代作家 有意識地書寫南方，展現新一階段的南方面貌，更是耐人尋味。這一篇論文擬探 討連明偉《藍莓夜的告白》（ 2019 ）裡的「南方」，希冀勾勒二十一世紀初的南 方想像新貌。這一本小說透過一名前往加拿大五星級旅館打工度假的台灣青年， 描寫非洲、亞洲、南美洲的南方底層移民的生命移動軌跡，另一方面，帶出「打 工度假」、「台勞輸出」等當代台灣社會重要議題，開闢以往台灣文學未曾處理 過的新題材。
從日本殖民時期的南方殖民地文學、戰後的太平洋戰爭記憶書寫、到出身東 南亞國家書寫的南方華文文學，南方想像一再浮現。近幾年，台灣千禧世代作家 有意識地書寫南方，展現新一階段的南方面貌，更是耐人尋味。這一篇論文擬探 討連明偉《藍莓夜的告白》（ 2019 ）裡的「南方」，希冀勾勒二十一世紀初的南 方想像新貌。這一本小說透過一名前往加拿大五星級旅館打工度假的台灣青年， 描寫非洲、亞洲、南美洲的南方底層移民的生命移動軌跡，另一方面，帶出「打 工度假」、「台勞輸出」等當代台灣社會重要議題，開闢以往台灣文學未曾處理 過的新題材。
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Taiwan is often perceived as an unrecognized, peripheral, and marginalized country on the global landscape. This perspective reflects Taiwan’s political predicament in some sense, but conceals its global position from other angles. To... more
Taiwan is often perceived as an unrecognized, peripheral, and marginalized country on the global landscape. This perspective reflects Taiwan’s political predicament in some sense, but conceals its global position from other angles. To “worlding” literary Taiwan in more complex worldly relations, this article borrows Pascale Casanova’s notion of “the world republic of letters,” considering Taiwan as the center that exercises influence as well as possesses the affirmative power to recognize writers from more peripheral regions. This article studies the literary works of Li Yongping, a Sinophone Malaysian writer who chooses to develop his literary career in Taiwan. It contends that Li Yongping’s road to becoming a writer of Taiwan enhances our understanding of how Taiwanese literary institutions intervene in the writings of migrant writers from Southeast Asian countries.
台灣往往被視為世界版圖裡邊緣、弱勢、受壓抑的位置，這雖反映台灣政治現實困境，卻同時遮蔽從不同角度思考台灣的世界位置。本文挪用卡薩諾瓦（Pascale Casanova）的「文學世界共和國」（the world republic of letters）概念，將台灣視為具有影響力且足以認可邊陲作家的認可機制核心，以期構築「世界中」台灣文學的複雜面貌。這一篇文章分析的個案是在台馬華小說家李永平，透過他在台灣經營文學事業所面臨的種種現實挑戰，具體梳理台灣文學機制的運作如何介入東南亞移民作家的創作。
台灣往往被視為世界版圖裡邊緣、弱勢、受壓抑的位置，這雖反映台灣政治現實困境，卻同時遮蔽從不同角度思考台灣的世界位置。本文挪用卡薩諾瓦（Pascale Casanova）的「文學世界共和國」（the world republic of letters）概念，將台灣視為具有影響力且足以認可邊陲作家的認可機制核心，以期構築「世界中」台灣文學的複雜面貌。這一篇文章分析的個案是在台馬華小說家李永平，透過他在台灣經營文學事業所面臨的種種現實挑戰，具體梳理台灣文學機制的運作如何介入東南亞移民作家的創作。
Research Interests:
Sinophone studies tend to conceptualize “Sinophone” in terms of the dialectics between the dominant Chinese culture and its local variations in the Sinophone world. The importance of place-basedness is often underscored. Though seemingly... more
Sinophone studies tend to conceptualize “Sinophone” in terms of the dialectics between the dominant Chinese culture and its local variations in the Sinophone world. The importance of place-basedness is often underscored. Though seemingly opposed, both Shu-mei Shih’s call for “postcolonial resistance against diaspora” and David Wang’s theorization of “post-loyalism” treats “Sinophone” as a hybridized, heterogenous, and place-based production that is distinctive from the authentic Chinese culture. This article argues for the consideration of Sinophone literature as multiple places-based production, and challenges the dominant discussions of (one) place-basedness. To illustrate the multiple places-based production in a transnational context, it examines the reception and reproduction of Sinophone Malaysian literature in Taiwanese literary awards and poses timely inquiries into the definition of Sinophone literature.
當代華語語系研究強調中華文化飄洋過海至異地，衍生出與中國文化大相逕庭的在地化面貌。儘管史書美的「後殖民抵抗論」和王德威的「後遺民傳承論」看似相左，兩人皆重視在地性（place-basedness），關懷中華文化與在地文化變貌之間的辯證張力。這篇文章試圖指出，我們不可小看「地方」的影響力，但倘若將華語語系文學視為單一地方的文化生產（one place-based production）恐怕流於簡化，忽略華語語系文學是多地共構的文學生產（places-based production）。這篇文章意欲以馬華文學在台灣文學獎場域的境遇為例，勾勒多地共構的華語語系文學圖像，重新思考華語語系文學的特質。
當代華語語系研究強調中華文化飄洋過海至異地，衍生出與中國文化大相逕庭的在地化面貌。儘管史書美的「後殖民抵抗論」和王德威的「後遺民傳承論」看似相左，兩人皆重視在地性（place-basedness），關懷中華文化與在地文化變貌之間的辯證張力。這篇文章試圖指出，我們不可小看「地方」的影響力，但倘若將華語語系文學視為單一地方的文化生產（one place-based production）恐怕流於簡化，忽略華語語系文學是多地共構的文學生產（places-based production）。這篇文章意欲以馬華文學在台灣文學獎場域的境遇為例，勾勒多地共構的華語語系文學圖像，重新思考華語語系文學的特質。
Research Interests:
In recent years, Sinophone studies has drawn increasing attention among scholars all over the world. Taiwan’s scholars are concerned most of all with the theoretical breakthroughs made by such a U.S.-based theory that may have an impact... more
In recent years, Sinophone studies has drawn increasing attention among scholars all over the world. Taiwan’s scholars are concerned most of all with the theoretical breakthroughs made by such a U.S.-based theory that may have an impact on Taiwan’s academic studies. Why do Taiwan scholars need to engage “Sinophone” as a theoretical concept? This paper seeks to point out that the notion of Sinophone may help to enhance our understanding of the cross-cultural encounters between Taiwan and the Sinophone world. It conducts an in-depth analysis of the complex issues raised by the encounters of multiple Sinophone literatures in the Taiwanese cultural field of production. Via the case studies of Taiwan indigenous literature and Sinophone Malaysian literature in the field of Taiwan literary award, this paper calls attention to the difference between the translational practices adopted by the two Sinophone literatures to gain recognition in the Sinophone world. The idea of “complicated entanglement” as defined by Ien Ang may serve as a more useful theoretical concept than the notion of “ethnic identity” for understanding the relationship among various Sinophone literatures within the Sinophone network and help shed light on some critical issues of cross-cultural encounters.