Abstract
Post-war Taiwanese Literature has often been positioned on a Localist discourse or within the Lyrical tradition of Chinese literature. The historical perspectives and visions of these two configurations becomes the foundation of the study of “Taiwanese Literature,” and they are highly influential among writers and literary critics. The two configurations affect how one imagines a Taiwan literary community and approach questions such as “What is Taiwanese Literature?” and “What are the functions of Taiwanese Literature?” The Localist discourse and the Lyrical tradition provides two frames of reference which allow literary critics to make associations and analogies. In other words, the Localist discourse and the Lyrical tradition offers a mechanism that would enable Taiwanese to construct their own subjectivity and connect themselves with others and with the world. Therefore, with a focus on these two concepts, this dissertation attempts to reflect upon the discourse of “selfhood” and “community” in post-war Taiwanese literature, and to explore the connection between Taiwanese literature and the “world.” In short, the Localist discourse is tied to the identity politics in a post-colonial setting, and is oriented towards representing the world in accordance with mimetic realism. By contrast, the Lyrical tradition is often attached with a sense of post-loyalism which advocates an aesthetics of “non-mimesis” and seeks to explore the potentialities beyond a realistic account. Although the Localist discourse varies largely with the Lyrical tradition, the two configurations should not be regarded as a pair of binary opposites. Instead, the interactions between the two discourses reveal that they are interdependent to one and other and are mutually illuminating. Through a juxtaposition of the Lyrical tradition and the Localist discourse, the thresholds of the worldviews of both configurations are exposed and a zone of indistinction thus emerges. This zone of indistinction provides a platform for all Taiwanese authors to share their individual worldview, and the common act of expression through literature connects these writers as a community. This dissertation will examine writers and critics of different generations across a wide political and aesthetic spectrum active in post-war Taiwan. Apart from fiction, essay and poetry, this research will also incorporate other genres of writings including memoir, literary and art criticisms. Through an analysis of various writers with different political positions and texts composed in various genres, this research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the literary field of post-war Taiwanese literature.