日治時期的文學與歷史研究目前已累積相當可觀的學術成果，但從「文學批評」的角度觀察戰前文學活動，卻仍是一個尚待開發的新課題，因此，本文以台灣日治時期的文學批評作為切入主題，藉此另闢蹊徑探索戰前文學的不同面向。本文將討論重點置於援引泰納（ Hippolyte Adolphe Taine）學說的文學批評，其中最具代表性者包括葉榮鐘的「第三文學」、巫永福的文學創作議論，劉捷與李獻璋的民間文學概說，以及黃得時的文學論述與台灣文學史建構，而即使是日人評論家島田謹二也對泰納的理論進行了深入的評析與改寫。本文主要在於指出，泰納這在西方已遭人質疑甚至遺忘的文學批評理論，卻在台灣的一九三○與四○年代被頻繁的引申與挪用，主要原因，首先是當時的台灣文壇亟欲建立一種科學的、實證的文學理論，以與普羅文學批評相抗衡；再者，是泰納的「種族」、「環境」與「時代」之說正好為台灣特殊性的論述提供有力的解釋基礎，藉此建構「民族文學」的可能性。

While much has been written on Taiwan’s literature under Japanese rule, studies on its literary criticism are comparatively neglected Therefore, this article aims to trace the development of literary criticism in pre-war Taiwan and point the way to a new field. This paper focuses on the literary critical projects which adopted and adapted Hippolyte Taine’s theory of literary criticism, including Ye Rong-zhong’s “the Third Literature,” Wu Yongfu’s discussion of literary creation, Liu Jie and Li Xian-zhang’s research on folk literature, Huang De-shi’s construction of Taiwan literary history, and Shimada Kinji’s criticism and rewriting of Taine’s theories as a lecturer of Taipei Imperial University. This paper argues that the main reasons for the popularity of Taine’s theory in colonial Taiwan were that it fulfilled the local-desiderata of establishing a scientific approach for literary criticism and also that Taine’s focuses on race, milieu, and moment fitted well with Taiwanese critics who were enthusiastic about the projects of discovering Taiwan’s uniqueness and constructing a national literature.