河流作為一種地貌，亦為人類棲居的場域，作家書寫河流，往往以人為主體去書寫，河流並非主角。然而河流不只是故事展演的舞台，也參與並形塑人們的經驗或者記憶，是故作家寫河，在有意或無意間反映出對於自身對生存環境的理解與看法。本文選擇與真實經驗密切關聯的臺灣散文作品，引用文化地理學中的「地方」觀念，分析其中人河互動的內涵，觀察河流的形象與角色，並詮釋作家何以如此書寫？文中從由小至大的範圍，整理出三種河流書寫內涵：（一）作為家族記憶的再現文本、（二）作為社會變遷的觀察場域、（三）作為土地認同的書寫主題。可以看出臺灣當代散文中，河流是作者成長與記憶之寶庫，見證社會變遷，並延伸成為認同感的象徵，反映出社會與時代的意義。

As a type of landforms, river is also a human settlement. When the writers do the river writings, human is often the main subject instead of river. However, river is not only a stage of performing stories but also participating and shaping the experience or memory of human beings. Therefore, the writers may deliberately or unintentionally complete the river writings that reflect their understanding and thought of living environment. This is a study which is based on contemporary Taiwanese prose highly relevant to real experience, and cites the concept of "place" in cultural geography, analyzes the connotation of the interaction between humans and rivers, observes the image and role of river and then interprets the reasons why the writers write about rivers in these ways. In this study, there are three connotations of river writings arranged by the scopes from small to large as follows: (1) a text reproduced of family memories, (2) an observed field of social change, and (3) a writing topic of land identity. As a result, it can be seen that within contemporary Taiwanese prose, river is the treasure house of the growth and memories of the writers. It witnesses the social change and is extended to be the symbol of identity which reflects the significance of society and age.