Modernist Aesthetics in Taiwanese Poetry Since the 1950s

221 Pages·2008·2.708 MB·English

by  Au Chung-to

Modernist Aesthetics in Taiwanese Poetry
since the 1950s
Sinica Leidensia
Edited by
Barend J. ter Haar
In co-operation with
P.K. Bol, D.R. Knechtges, E.S. Rawski, W.L. Idema,
E. Zürcher, H.T. Zurndorfer
VOLUME 85
Modernist Aesthetics
in Taiwanese Poetry
since the 1950s
By
Au Chung-to
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2008
Cover illustration: Another view of the ‘food-steamer lamp’. Photo courtesy of Ivan
Chan.
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Au, Chung-to.
Modernist aesthetics in Taiwanese poetry since the 1950s / By Au Chung-to.
p. cm. — (Sinica leidensia ; v. 85)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-16707-0 (alk. paper)
1. Chinese poetry—Taiwan—History and criticism. 2. Chinese poetry—20th
century—History and criticism. I. Title.
PL3031.T3A86 2008
895.1’15209951249—dc22
2008009746
ISSN 0169-9563
ISBN 978 90 04 16707 0
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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printed in the netherlands
For Th eo

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix
List of Illustrations ............................................................................. xi
Notes on Translation and Spelling .................................................. xiii
Chapter One Introduction ............................................................ 1
‘Place’ and ‘Placelessness’ ............................................................. 7
Th e Mutable and the Immutable ................................................ 8
Th e Poetic Space ............................................................................ 16
Taiwanese Modernist Aesthetics ................................................. 18
Chapter Two Unhomely Houses .................................................. 27
‘Homely’ and ‘Unhomely’ ............................................................. 28
Buried Alive .................................................................................... 33
Transparent Space .......................................................................... 35
Th e Dark Space .............................................................................. 47
Th e Window as an Opening to the Public Realm ................... 55
Chapter Th ree Imagining Taipei .................................................. 61
Modernism in Imagination .......................................................... 62
Th e Unreal City ............................................................................. 64
Th e Disappearance of the Crowd ............................................... 67
An Invisible Persona ..................................................................... 71
Th e Urban Uncanny ...................................................................... 79
Gender Space ................................................................................. 82
Estrangement .................................................................................. 89
Chapter Four Homelands as Shift ing Ground ........................... 101
Yearning for the Lost Origin ....................................................... 104
Quest for a Mythic Origin ........................................................... 110
Searching for a Cultural Identity ................................................ 114
Th e Uncanniness of Homecoming ............................................. 124
Traveling as Collecting of One’s Identity .................................. 129
Making Exile His Homeland ....................................................... 132
Th e Origin is a Shift ing Ground ................................................. 134
Finding Stability in Instability ..................................................... 139
viii contents
Chapter Five Imagined Literary Community: Language,
Memory and Nature ...................................................................... 141
Horizontal Comradeship .............................................................. 145
Vertical Comradeship ................................................................... 147
Language as Home ........................................................................ 148
Fabricating Memories ................................................................... 157
Return to Nature ............................................................................ 175
Homeland (Re)located .................................................................. 190
Chapter Six Conclusion ................................................................. 193
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 197
Index .................................................................................................... 203
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Th is book is full of beauty. Th is is not only because the subject of my
discussion is poetry or aesthetics. It is rather also because of the people
I met or worked with during these years. I wish I could include all their
names here. For those names I have omitted, I will never forget you or
your contributions.
My fi rst thanks go to Professor Esther Cheung (University of Hong
Kong). Her criticisms on draft s of this book drove me in a direction I
never dreamed of, or had feared to tread. Nevertheless, I am more hap-
pily at home there now. Although the ideas she introduced to me some-
times drove me crazy, most of the time, I was intoxicated by them.
However, it is Professor Tom Rendall (Peking University) who really
saw me embark on this intellectual journey when I was an undergraduate
student. He not only taught me to appreciate the beauty of English, by
extension, but also of Chinese literature. His trenchant comments and
queries helped to better structure the book and made it more readable.
His graciousness and concern have been a moral support.
My thanks also go to the poetic couple Lomen and Rong Zi, who
invited me to visit their ‘House of Light’ in Taipei. I will never forget
the time and thoughts we shared together. Above all, the publication of
this book would not have been possible without the generous support
and assistance of Professor Ngai Ling Tun (Chinese University of Hong
Kong) and Lucy Moore.
Finally, I express heartfelt thanks to my family for their support;
without them, I could not have completed this project.