施叔青《三世人》中的殖民現代性與認同問題
Journal
臺灣文學研究集刊
Journal Issue
17
Pages
105-135
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Abstract
This article deals with how Shih Shu-ching's A Man Who Has Been through Three Ages presents Japanese colonial modernity and Taiwanese identity problems. I argue that the novel depicts the great impact of Japanese colonialism and modernity project on the Taiwanese. While modernity challenges traditional culture by bringing a new worldview, a new body politic, a new cultural vision, and a new system of knowledge, colonialism triggers anti-Japan and pro-Japan stances as well as identity conflict. As a result of the blurring of modernity and Japanese-ness, the Japanese government's discriminatory practices, and cultural differences, characters in the novel often have ambiguous and split identity. Both anti-Japan and pro-Japan stances have their identity politics, which are further complicated by class and gender. As the characters oscillate between craving for and resisting modernity, between anti-Japan and pro-Japan stances, they display complex national, class, and gender identification. I contend that identity problems in the novel should be seen in relation to the complex spectrum of how the characters of different generations, classes, and genders view and respond to traditional culture, modernity, and colonialism. There may be entanglements and vacillations between these different stances, while some characters change or reverse their positions over time. Despite the differences, the Taiwanese in the novel have become neither the ＂pure Chinese＂ nor the ＂pure Japanese.＂
SDGs
Type
journal article