SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis does not purport to be an indepth study of the whole literary scene in Taiwan. Nor does it concern itself primarily with the growth and development of various literary genres. Instead, it sets out to look at several writers' associations, their aims and literary activities; their attempts to create a united front against the threat of Communism and their efforts to encourage a literature that is imbued with the spirit of The Three Principles of the People. It sets out also to examine some of the literary movements that were initiated in response to events in mainland China and in the Taiwan Straits. However, the thesis is not concerned solely with the literary scene viewed from the standpoint of government policy. It draws attention to, among things, the "unofficial" poetry societies; the debate surrounding the modernization of literature in the fifties and sixties; the East-West Controversy, 1962 - 1964, and to the episode which resulted in the closure of the literary journal, Wen-hsing (Literary Star). It also covers the Hsin so (The Lock of the Heart) Controversy of 1963, and the Po Yang Case of 1967 - 1968, which led to the incarceration of the well-known novelist and essayist, Kuo I-tung . I have limited my study to the years 1949 - 1971, although references will be made to the literary scene in China prior to 1949, where applicable, as well as to the situation which prevailed during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. 1949 makes a suitable starting-point since it marks the commencement of the Kuomintang government's exile in Taiwan; and 1971 makes a natural cut-off point because the unseating of Nationalist China in the United Nations in that year changed Taiwan's status in the international arena.