Belated Postcoloniality: Intellectuals and the Subaltern in Lai Hsiang-yin’s Post-Martial Law Fictions
Resource
中外文學, 39(4), 007-043
Journal
中外文學
Journal Volume
39
Journal Issue
4
Pages
007-043
Date Issued
2010-12
Date
2010-12
Author(s)
Liou, L.Y.
Abstract
Much of Lai Hsiang-yin’s fiction deals with the political and moral commitment of intellectuals of the student-activism generation who defy the authoritarian rule, show strong concerns for social movements and the subaltern, and watch to see whether one practices what one preaches. As a result of the colonial structure created by the Kuomingtang government following the 228 Incident and under the martial law from 1949 to 1987, however, some of these intellectuals come to realize that they have been relegated to the status of the subaltern as well. This article applies Gayatri Spivak’s notion of the subaltern and Ping-hui Liao’s notion of belated postcoloniality to explore how the intellectuals and subaltern characters in Lai Hsiang-yin’s two short stories “Fabrication and Recording” and “Uproar and Intoxication” experience the belatedness of postcoloniality and how they participate in or respond to postcoloniality. On one hand, the two stories portray the entanglements between private and public spheres, thereby presenting belated postcoloniality not only in relation to intellectuals of different ethnic, political, and gender identities but also in relation to the “structure of feeling” of the authoritarian rule under the martial law. On the other hand, the two stories also implicitly criticize postcolonial nationalism as failing to utterly solve the problems of the subaltern, thus revealing the intellectuals’ anxieties and frustrations with regard to the slow progress of social restructuring. The first section of the article discusses Gayatri Spivak’s notion of the subaltern in relation to Indian nationalist discourse. The second section delves into Ping-hui Liao’s notion of Taiwan’s belated postcoloniality in relation to social restructuring. The third and fourth sections undertake textual analysis of “Fabrication and Recording” and “Uproar and Intoxication” respectively.
Subjects
遲來的後殖民，賴香吟，解嚴，知識菁英，底層人民
belated postcoloniality, Lai Hsiang-yin, post-martial law fiction, intellectual, the subaltern
Type
journal article