閱讀二十世紀末的台灣小說，猶如閱讀百科全書；我們摸索文本的繁複網絡，我們也逐字、逐句、逐行地進行訊息索隱以及意義連結的工程。在知識爆炸的時代裡，小說內容承載百科全書式的知識訊息，再佐以華麗的文字風格，將之轉化為兼具知性素養與感官刺激的閱讀趣味。新興的思潮、論述以及時下流行的議題大量滲透在小說文本裡，不僅讓台灣當代小說帶有菁英文化的架勢，書寫行為本身也越來越凸顯某種炫耀式的藝術性包裝。對於如何凸顯創作者個人獨特鮮明風格的關注，似乎遠比文本題材、內容、意旨的傳達要來得更為重要。這種對於高層文化頗為自覺性的運作甚至是經過仔細精算後的藝術操演，不僅是展現當代創作者對於文本意義的繁複性創造，更是凸顯了這種精緻文學本身可以帶來的區隔異己的象徵性資本。解嚴後台灣社會風氣的活潑開放、文化生活的多元豐富，讓當代社會逐漸導向某種追求高層文化品味的風氣。當代小說表現在藝術形式上的變革，充分體現文本內在藝術特質與外在文化生產環境的互動關係。台灣當代小說家普遍善用新的、世界性知識潮流裡的象徵符碼，來創造、提升其文學作品的象徵資本與文學位階，這種「秀異」（表現自我的優秀以及自我與他人之間的區隔差異）的文化心態是刺激九○年代小說走向「類菁英」美學品味的重要關鍵。

Reading Taiwanese novel from the last decade of the 20th century is like reading an encyclopedia. As we sort through the complex maze of the narrative, we are engaged in an engineering project involving a search for hidden meanings and associations word by word, line by line and sentence by sentence. In this era of information explosion, the contents of fiction convey knowledge and information in a way much like encyclopedias. In addition, the elegance of the writing style transforms the experience into both a refinement of knowledge and stimulation of the senses. To a great extent, new trends in attitudes, discourse and fashion are infused the writing of these texts. This not only provides contemporary literature in Taiwan a position on elite culture, but also enables the act of writing to resemble artistic packaging in an increasingly boastful manner. It seems that highlighting the author’s distinctive and unique personal style is far more important than presenting the elements, content and theme of the story. These rather self-conscious attempts to achieve high culture and even the artistic perform that follows careful calculation not only show the significance of these repetitive creations by contemporary authors in their writing. Furthermore, they highlight the fact that fine literature can create symbolic capital that differentiates oneself from others. With the lift of martial law in Taiwan, local society has become thriving and liberal, and cultural life has become diverse and rich. All these factors have allowed contemporary society to pursue high culture tastes and styles. The transformation of artistic form in contemporary fiction is fully realized in the interaction between the internal artistic characteristics of literature and the external environment of the culture reproduction. Generally speaking, contemporary writers are expert in the use of signs arising from new knowledge in order to create and elevate the symbolic capital and literary rank of their works. This sort of “distinction” (expressing one’s superiority and separation from others) is the main factor that drives literature in the 1990s toward a quasi-elite aesthetic style.