Study After Taiwan Local Literature

Since modern times, nativist literature has been the aesthetic carrier for the reflection andcriticism of reality in Taiwanese literature due to its realistic characteristics and humanitarianism.It is still in the ascendant even though it has been through highs and lows. After the nineteenseventies, with the dramatic changes in politics both home and abroad, Taiwanese nativistliterature fought back the slander and suppression from “modernist” literature and gained its ownroom for development, and thus became the mainstream in Taiwanese literature. However, theKaohsiung Incident and a series of other social events interrupted the original trends of nativistliterature by weakening the left-wing movement in it while the call for “Nativism” began to gainground, and thus nativist literature appeared to move towards rigidity. Under this historicalcircumstances in Taiwanese literature emerged a number of writers who wrote with totally newnativist approaches, which is called “Post-nativist literature”; among these writers were YanChe-sheng, T’ung Wei-ko, Hsü Jung-che, Egoyan Zheng, Wu Heh, Chen Hsüeh, Liao Hung-chi,Lü Tse-chih, etc. As the conditions have been ripe, Taiwanese post-nativist writers depictednumerous types of post-nativist scenes and cultural symbolic space beyond the nativistdimension, showing extraordinary thinking and reflections upon values. Taiwanese post-nativistliterature emerged due to complicated historical conditions, and presented unique aestheticcharacters. The thesis is mainly focused on the exterior factors of its formation and the interiorrules of its development.Chapter1mainly charts the reparatory value, the forming and the development ofTaiwanese post-nativist literature. Since Japanese occupation, Taiwanese nativist literature hastaken Nationalism and Democracy as its outstanding identity for expressing its modern values.However, the high coincidence of its aesthetic and enlightenment modernity leaves the potentialthat Taiwanese nativist literature goes towards rigidity in the nineteen eighties. Post-nativistliterature truly realizes the separation of the two kinds of modernity, repairs the previous nativistliterature with aesthetic expressions such as the regression of religious writing, the resurgence oftraditional spirits, the localization of modernity and the differentiation of reality criticism and itacquires a certain kind of modern character–harmonious conflicts; post-nativist literatureoriginated in the nineteen nineties based on original literary traditions, and was formed asreflections in literature under the combined influence of changes and development in politics,economy and cultural policies as well as the introduction of Western ideological trends in art and literature. The Silent Thrush(1990), a novel written by Ling-yen, a Taiwanese novelist, can beseen as the period-defining piece of Taiwanese post-nativist literature for its point of view andgender narrative different from those of previous nativist literature. We probe into the tendencyof culturalization of post-nativist literature, taking the philosophy of culture by Ernst Cassirer asits philosophical basis, while the culturalization of literature is more concrete and symbolic, andits purpose is to represent the local culture and the cultural human landscape.Chapter2mainly analyses the innovation of Taiwanese post-nativist literature. Due to thechange of context, the theme of post-nativist literature has differed greatly from previous nativistliterature, representing a richer and more complex literary dimension. The theme of “ghosts”reflects the re-enchantment of post-nativist literature, which expresses its nostalgia for nativeculture and the unique construction of native space-time; the theme of “good-for-nothing” is thecontinuation and variant of the “superfluous man” in Chinese modern literature, which expressesdefiance against the dominant order and the yearning for spiritual liberty; the theme of “realitycriticism” shows the tendency of secularization in post-nativist literature: it removes thegrandiose narration in previous nativist literature and replaces enlightenment humanity withsecular humanity; the literature of indigenous peoples in Taiwan is supposed to be an importantpart of Taiwanese nativist literature, and with the theme of “natural mountain and sea”, ithighlights the geographical characteristics and expresses unique ethnic culture and aestheticrequests.Chapter3mainly discusses the narrative technical transformation of Taiwanese post-nativistliterature. As one of the post-classic narratologies, aesthetic cultural narratology seeks to linknarrative elements with the outside world so as to reflect the relationship between literature andculture. In this chapter, based on this theory, we will analyze the narrative expression ofomnipotent point of view, selective omnipotent point of view, experience of the first-personnarrative point of view and multiple person limited point of view in post-nativist literature; wewill analyze the narrative functions of “pause space” and “scene space” in post-nativist literature;we will analyze the aesthetic performance of the “flat character” and the “round character” in thetransformation of post-nativist literature.Chapter4surveys the mode transformation of the style of Taiwanese post-nativist literature.The style transforms due to changes of historical conditions and the expression of the writer’spersonality, representing an outstanding characteristic different from previous nativist literature.The identification in the micro field of vision is due to the introduction of Western micro politics. In post-nativist literature, it is specifically presented in the differentiation and secularization ofreality criticism, the emergence of neo-historicist view of literature and the sex narrative; thesalience of localization is another artistic feature of post-nativist literature: it transforms therelationship between the land and literature from “neglecting and bounding” to “attention andunbounding” so as to express different geographical features; Utopian imagination and absurdnarration is the representation of different aesthetic attempts by post-nativist literature based onnative realistic depicting, and it reflects diversified post-nativist artistic style from two seeminglyopposite dimensions, with encouragement and expectation like romanticism as well as solemnityand seriousness like realism, which must be the best explanation of the divers artistic content ofpost-nativist literature.Chapter5analyzes the unique strategy of Taiwanese post-nativist literary language. In theface of the clamour of “literature in Taiwanese”, post-nativist literature keeps mandarin Chineseas its language. This strategy is on one hand for the purpose of expression and communication,on the other hand for the aesthetic thinking of realistic concern and literary attitude ofdecentralization; vernacular Chinese, classical Chinese, mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Japaneseand English are mixed in some post-nativist literary works and this strategy of lingual mixingbreaks the fanaticism that signs of language can stand for the whole truth, expressing reflectionsupon and fight against “central discourse” as well as thoughts on historic truth; the phenomenonof lingual mixing also exists in the indigenous literature, in most cases mixing Roman charactersand Chinese characters, as the indigenous writers hope they can thus highlight their aestheticmeaning of conveying ethnic traditions and constructing ethnic culture.In Postscript part is the discussion over existing problems and developmental tendency ofTaiwanese post-nativist literature. In post-nativist literature, there are problems such as excessivepromotion of avant-garde experimental writing, degeneration and weakening in aspects of realitycriticism, etc. and these problems require attention and correction. In the meantime, theappreciation of both ugliness and beauty and the integrated expression in literary dimension aretendencies in post-nativist literature that are worth approval and require reservation and furtherdevelopment.