Taiwan the betrayed lover, Taiwan the neglected son, Taiwan the objectified sex toy these are among the literary identities explored in this engaging and original study by Wu Chia-rong (吳家榮).
Perhaps the most resonant metaphor is the hearing-impaired mechanic Saburo, from Wu Ming-yi’s (吳明益) novel Routes in the Dream. Having served in the Japanese navy in World War II, Saburo suffers partial hearing loss in a bombing raid, after which his life is “plagued by miscommunication with his own family and the outside world.” Saburo can thus be seen to represent Taiwan itself riven by internal social division
Violence and oppression, we are told in the introduction to this collection of tales, are foundational to modern Taiwan, providing “a legacy that continues to influence its contemporary society.”
It is interesting, then, that an anthology subtitled “Stories about the White Terror,” offers few instances of physical violence, a notable exception being a neighborhood dust-up involving a gossip nicknamed Big Mouth Yang.
This incident, from Sung Tse-lai’s (宋澤萊) “Rice Diary,” is the first snapshot in a montage of quotidian happenings in the village of Daniunan (打牛湳), Yunlin County. The story forms part of a series focusing on life in this village
Writer receives honorable mention for a third time
By Chien Hui-ju
and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Writer Lee Wang-tai (李旺台) received an honorable mention for the third time at yesterday’s Historical Novel Award ceremony, for his biographical stories about Japanese colonial-era Hakka physician Chhi Pong-hin (徐傍興).
The biennial award ceremony, held by the New Taiwan Peace Foundation, was launched in 2017.
Foundation executive director Wang Mei-hsiu (王美琇), who founded the awards, said she hoped that they would encourage people to write on historical topics related to Taiwan and “dig up all sorts of Taiwanese stories that have long been buried.”