Abstract
In the context where “social consciousness”, “racial consciousness”, and “postcolonial discourse” have provoked heated debates and have become primary academic concerns alternatively in Taiwan, Chung Li-Ho’s literary works not only have been canonized but also keep being emphasized. With this literary phenomenon as the core problematic, this dissertation aims to delve into Chung’s constant reconstruction of national consciousness and how these alternations parallel the development of subject consciousness in Taiwan.
Through the readings of Chungs’ autobiographical writings, this dissertation intends to propose that Chung’s national consciousness is (re)constructed through dialectics and struggles between reality and imagination, in which his nostalgic imagination of hometowns, his experience of Japanese modernization, the tradition of cordial Hakka people, and his dissatisfaction toward morbid Chinese people are all involved. Furthermore, being excluded by China, combined with the profound impact of Japanese colonization, have led to his final disillusion of “Chinese consciousness”. As for the birth of “Taiwanese consciousness”, it springs up and prospers when Chung dedicates himself to writing about people and lands in Meinong. It not only represents his national consciousness but also serves as inspiration for the oncoming nativist literature in the 70s’. Chung’s writings are the representations of his personal alternations of national consciousness; what’s more, they also crystalize the historical experiences of many Taiwanese, which made Chung’s writings classic and canonic in Taiwanese literature.
Keyword: Chung Li-Ho, Taiwan Literature, National Consciousness, Historical Imagination,