Chapter 94 Section 1 seeks the positioning of Taiwanese literature

What is Taiwanese literature? It has always been a controversial name.The debaters are all out of political goals, sometimes noisy, sometimes clamorous, it all depends on the situation at that time.They did not know then that literature, like roses, does not change its essence through names.Taiwanese literature is a natural "happening" (happening), and its existence is not changed by the name. Since it was recorded, all literary works written in Taiwan, including Taiwanese people and events, even narrated Taiwanese myths and legends.Both are Taiwanese literature.The writers who have lived in Taiwan for generations are of course Taiwanese literature; when the Chinese history was broken, the survivors and immigrants who drifted to Taiwan wrote nostalgic works of nostalgia.

Shen Guangwen (1612-1688), known as the first ancestor of Haidong literature, drifted on the sea after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. To Taiwan, where he will die, after the rule of the Dutch, three generations of Zheng Chenggong until the Qing Dynasty unified.In 1685 (the 24th year of Kangxi), he and Niu, an official and scholar who came to Taiwan from across the sea, organized the first poetry society "Dongyin Society", which can be said to be the origin of Taiwanese literature.In the middle, after the vicissitudes of literature and writing of the survivors of Ming Zheng and Japanese colonization, after Shen Guangwen, a full three hundred years later, with the relocation of the government of the Republic of China, about two million military, public and educational personnel and their families landed in Taiwan. Everywhere in China, there are sad stories of parting, it is a huge team of nostalgia!

On Liberation Day in October 1946, the national government formulated a language policy, and all newspapers and publications were written in Chinese.From 1895 to 1945 for half a century, most of the Japanese writers in the province during the Japanese colonial era ended their literary creation. It has been translated into Chinese and is a classic part of Taiwanese literature.In the ten years since I started writing in Chinese, no matter if they are from mainland China or local writers from Taiwan, except for new poems, which seem to be the most confident writing, most of them feel like they are groping and running in the gray fog. "Xinsheng Daily" supplement "Bridge" was edited by Ge Lei (formerly known as Shi Ximei) for 20 months. It encouraged all kinds of creations, without regional prejudice, and was a very sincere and enthusiastic promoter of literature.At that time, there were a large number of nostalgic works, although there were often rough and repetitive works, it seemed that the victims who had just landed on the shore warmed up by the fire, and wept in shock.Gradually, it also embarked on the road of mature narrative, and even helped the textbooks at that time as a supplementary Chinese reading material for the younger generation.

When I started compiling "Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature" in 1973, Taiwanese literature had gradually taken shape.The desire to translate Taiwanese literature into English was first latent in two visits to the United States under the Infulbright Cultural Exchange Program.At that time, I was often invited to "talk about Taiwan" (say something about TaiWan,) during visits.In those years from 1957 to 1969, many listeners would always ask first: "Are you in Africa?" "Are you from Thailand (Thailand, sound similar to TaiWan) with the Golden Buddha Temple?" Since then, In foreign public places, I try to wear short collars, naturally loose, cheongsams with slits below the knees, and unrestricted walking. I never wear hats, at least not to be mistaken for Japanese.In the earliest exchange program, the United States seems to have practiced the idea of ​​"repaying grievances with virtue" more than President Jiang. When I first visited, there were four Japanese in the same period! But I represented the "Republic of China" (The Republic of China) but only A person has been fighting alone.So I must work hard to maintain the dignity of the country, "If you lose, you won't lose."

"Talk about Taiwan", this seemingly easy topic is the most complicated one.Gao Yunan, who is often in the same group as me and the only teacher from South Korea, introduces herself, as long as she says "I am from KOrea" (I am from KOrea), and everyone in the room fully understands her identity.At that time, the United States had just finished the Korean War, and the whole country was an "ally" of South Korea; but the Republic of China, which I represented, was no longer in mainland China.My family is from Manchuria, and our current government is in Taiwan, across the Taiwan Strait, more than 600 miles away from Shanghai...It is not easy to talk about it, I have to say confidently: "We are in Taiwan, a free and democratic country, maintaining a high level of Chinese culture, and pursuing prosperity and peace."

At that time, these words were not just slogans and propaganda, but the hope of the whole people. On this 36,000-square-kilometer island, about one-third of the nearly 10 million people lived on this idea. .Before 1949, most of the exhausted "quilt soldiers" and their surviving family members were still in the temporary military villages, nostalgic for the old days, and at the same time trying their best to educate their children to live and work.Ten, twenty, thirty years have passed, and the government has run out of counterattack slogans.Put your heart down and do your best to build Taiwan.National compulsory education was extended from six years to nine years, which was probably the last and most lasting handwritten order issued by President Chiang Kai-shek.Some clear voices are gradually coming out of Taiwan’s literary world, which can help me answer those questions outside, such as: “What is Taiwan like? How do people live? What are they thinking? Where are they going?”

Another confidence that I have the courage to edit the English translation of "Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature" also came from the fact that during my two visits to the United States, I searched and inquired in large-scale libraries such as the University of Michigan and Indiana University. Continental real literature.Both schools offer good Chinese literature and history courses. Although there are a few pro-communist scholars who try to speak well of the CCP’s “liberation”, most scholars point to a row of model literature after the founding of the CCP on the bookshelf, such as “Learn from Lei Feng”, Haoran's "Golden Light Avenue", Ding Ling, Lao She's "Longxugou", etc. said: "Although the CCP has closed the Iron Curtain, the ruthless political struggle and the hardship and misery of the people's lives are still well known to the world. We can be here Do classrooms promote these glorified propaganda texts? How to explain these lies to American students?" Then.They changed the subject and asked me: "Is there literature in Taiwan?"

I looked at the bookshelves of contemporary Chinese literature in the library, which were empty, and thought to myself, maybe after I return to Taiwan, I will have the opportunity to say something for Taiwan through literature reviews! This is a long-standing idea, I Accepted the work of the National Institute of Compilation and Translation to compile English-translated Taiwanese literature. It was an era of common search for identity, and they all seemed to be running in the fog, looking for their own garden. The earliest young authors and readers did not have much provincial barriers, and they all read the same textbooks and grew up together.Memories of the Japanese occupation era are gradually fading away; the concern and sense of loss in the mainland have gradually let go, and the word "exile" (exile) can also be discussed calmly.When compiling the English translation of "Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature", I thought I had found a common position.Because the publisher is the National Institute of Compilation and Compilation, the selected works must be representative of the whole people, and the compilation must be fair, and no bias or omission is allowed.Among our group of five, He Xin and Yu Guangzhong were the first to participate in Taiwan literary activities, and possess the most abundant materials on Taiwanese literature.Since I returned to Taipei, I have read very few important works.After I started teaching "Advanced English", I ran to the bookstore frequently, and I had all the newly published books in my hand. Just like when I was studying in the United States, I could keep up with the times and read the research of important writers.From that year on, my small study gradually contained a complete collection of Taiwanese literature.For example, Huang Chunming's "Gong", if the author wrote to me on the room page, it will be placed side by side with "Belwulf", the first early folk epic in the eighth century in "History of English Literature"; Sima Zhongyuan, "Dawn Train" and Zhu Xining's " At Breaking Dawn, Bai Xianyong, these novels first published in the 1960s and 1970s, are juxtaposed with the rare editions of the complete works of Shelley and Keats that I brought from Shanghai.I used to admire Xiao Pei, a young female writer, and all her novels were compared with Willa Cather and Sherwood.The works of American writers such as Andersi and Bernard Malamo stand side by side.I am going back and forth between the two languages, and I enjoy it, which helps me write the vision and level of the review article.