本文從敘事認同與Karl Mannheim關於世代研究的理論角度，探討一九七○年代臺灣為何與如何形成特殊的回歸現實世代，分析其回歸現實理念與世代認同之關係。七○年代初臺灣的外交挫敗，使不同省籍的年輕知識份子廣泛覺醒，以中國近代國族歷史敘事來理解臺灣處境與自己這一代的責任，並批判流亡心態，呼籲回歸現實與社會政治改革。他們的世代認同鑲嵌在國族歷史敘事中：使其成為回歸現實世代的，是他們在國族歷史敘事中定位自我、尋求存在意義而積極實踐的結果。國族歷史敘事所形塑的世代認同，是特定社會變遷的產物，也是激發社會變遷的重要能動，它是一種歷史現象。「世代」是覺悟啟蒙的戰後知識份子用來理解自我、社會、與時代，並企圖改變現狀的概念範疇。研究這個關鍵世代的言論與活動，有助於了解晚近臺灣文化、政治本土化或臺灣化的長遠源頭與其他相關的歷史變遷。

The author uses a combination of narrative identity theory and Karl Mannheim's theory of generation to a) analyze the emergence of a "back-to-reality" generation in 1970s Taiwan and b) examine the relationship between their back-to-reality ideas and generational identity. Taiwan's major diplomatic failures in the early 1970s awakened young intellectuals (both Taiwanese natives and the children of mainland Chinese) to new challenges facing the country. They relied on a modern Chinese nationalist historical narrative to make sense of the situation and to promote a sense of duty to the country among other members of their generation, attacking the prevailing sojourn mentality and supporting back-to-reality ideas and socio-political reforms. The author shows that the frame of reference for generational identity was a nationalist historical narrative, within which intellectuals positioned themselves and struggled to make sense of their generation's meaning of existence. Their attempts to act out their philosophy qualify them as Taiwan's "back-to-reality" generation. I offer an analysis of how a generational identity shaped by a nationalist historical narrative evolved into a primary motivation for historical actors, noting that generational consciousness was a function a specific social change, which in turn became an agency that facilitated further social change. In this situation, generation--a conceptual category through which the awakening back-to-reality generation understood self and society and articulated its socio-political reformism--was a historical phenomenon in which subjective agency and objective environmental conditions were of equal significance. It is important to study this generation's discourses and actions as remote origins of the indigenization or Taiwanization of contemporary Taiwanses politics and culture.