關於九○年代的台灣散文，文學史多習於從「後現代」的脈絡論述其特質，然而弔詭的是，這樣的脈絡其實是以現代詩或小說的發展為肌理。面對「散文」這個在戰後以來的所有文學論戰中，始終「置身事外」的邊緣文類，本文認為它的發展與演變，有其獨特的歷史脈絡，且與政治、社會的變遷，有至為緊密的關聯。因此，回歸文學與社會的互動關係，本文以巴赫金提出的「話語」概念，指陳九○年代後的台灣散文，在政治的解嚴及社會的民主化、自由化、本土化之下，已掙脫戰後以來符應官方意識型態而形成的「純」散文框架，逆反封閉、個人的「詩話語」傾向，而大步朝向與社會對話，並對紛雜的社會語境具有敏銳覺知的「散文化」方向前進。文中提出的三大現象：類型化的深耕、散文邊界的模糊化、文藝腔的消褪，即是在此發展歷程下所形成的結果，其在橫跨解嚴前、後且動盪的八○年代已見雛型，而在九○年代之後益發顯著。自此，散文家的書寫趨向於在眾聲喧嘩的社會語境中「發聲」，「發聲」位置的確立導致類型化書寫的成形，而邊界的模糊化與文藝腔的消褪，則更突顯「散」（無軌範）的本色，也回應了後解嚴時代的來臨。

Taiwanese prose in the 1990s is often dubbed “post-modern” by literary historians, a term more apt to describe what is ingrained in Taiwanese fiction and poetry in the late 20th century. Even though historically prose in Taiwan has sidestepped most literary and political debates, its development has, in my opinion, been closely related to socio-political changes and should be investigated in such context. Following M. Bakhtin’s concept of discourse, this article holds that prose became heteroglossiac in response to the cultural-political trend of democratization in the 1990s. The so-called “pure” prose, which was endorsed by the government, now gave way to writings of widely different subjects and styles. The new, centrifugal motions reversed the poetic, hermetic, and individualistic tendencies and prose thus became truly “prosaic”, able to engage in social dialogue at all levels. The article observes the new development in three aspects: the multiplication of types of writing, the expansion of genre definition, and the fading of high-literary style. We see the change set forth in the 1980s, becoming general in the 90s, and henceforth prose writers, free from conventional restraints, were able to write with specific concerns, and in languages of unprecedented immediacy, actively responding to a multi-voiced society liberated from martial-law governing.