相較於性別議題與民族主義，馬克思主義傳統在台灣文學研究中無疑是較為消沉的一支。本文探究的即是長久以來「左翼缺席」的現象。在本文的第一部分，將與一些當代文學史著作對話，以思考台灣的文學史研究與文學批評中「缺席的馬克思」。在文學史論著中，儘管強調多元文化、本土意識的「左翼」後殖民史觀，確實指向對現有體制的批判，但是，「左翼」後殖民史觀的主要關懷，還是在於反省國家在族群與文化上行使的各種暴力，而不是去解剖資本主義體制內在的弊病。本文接續處理的，則是回到解嚴後的台灣小說文本，並思考其中的「族群認同」之政治如何覆蓋「階級鬥爭」之政治：外省小說家們往往採用了一種「階級敘事」，來區分「富裕本省人」與「無產外省人」這樣不同的階級位置。然而，當代台灣小說中的階級敘事，基本上是為了表現族群關係的緊張、同時也是植根於解嚴後外省族群的特殊處境，而不是真正對於資本主義與階級社會提出異議

Compared with gender issues and nationalism, the Marxist tradition in studies on Taiwan literature is no doubt relatively stagnant. This paper aims to explore the long ＂absence of the left.＂ The first half of this paper engages in dialogues with a few works on the history of contemporary Taiwan literature as a meditation on the condition of ＂the absence of Marxism＂ in Taiwan's scholarship on literary history and criticism. Although in works of literary history, the leftist postcolonial historiographical viewpoint that emphasizes diverse culture and local consciousness indeed tends to be critical of existing institutions, the main concern of ＂leftist＂ postcolonial historiography is still to reflect on the havoc wreaked by the nation state upon ethnic groups and cultures, rather than to expose the intrinsic flaws of capitalist institutions. The second half of this study returns to the post-martial law Taiwan fiction and ruminates on how its politics of ＂ethnic identity＂ covers that of ＂class struggle＂: local fiction writers from Mainland China often adopt a ＂class narrative＂ to distinguish between the different class positions of ＂rich islanders＂ and ＂poor mainlanders.＂ However, the class narratives in contemporary Taiwan fiction, bearing no genuine objections to capitalism and class society per se, basically foreground the tensions of ethnic relations and are rooted in the particular circumstances in which mainlanders were placed after the lifting of martial law