Challenging the Grand Narrative：A Study on Political Novels in Taiwan from 1979 to 1987

• Main Authors: Fu Yi-Jhen, 傅怡禎
• Other Authors: Chang, Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/78264642489621453229

博士 === 中國文化大學 === 中國文學研究所 === 98 === Political novels often favor controversial political issues and current political conditions as their source materials, in order to record the dark side of politics or to serve as apocalyptic visions of future political trends. During the nine years from the Nativist Literature Debate (1979) to the abolishment of Martial Law (1987), political novels began to emerge, one-by-one, in the media as if struggling to fight against the cultural oppressions or restrictions of Martial Law with their taboo breaking descriptions and attitude of challenging the authorities; they gradually demolished the hegemony of the official grand narrative. This study took political novels that challenged the grand narrative as the targets of study, and explored the narrative patterns, view points, narrative methods, subject matters and special characteristics of these novels from the perspectives of narratology. Chapter 1 clarifies the motives and defines the scope of the study, including “Grand Narrative”, “Political Novels” and the “1979-1987 period”. Chapter 2 introduces the homogenization/heterogenization theory of Georges Bataille and the (quasi) war-time system of Guo-Sian Lin to discuss the establishment and evolution of the official anti-communist Grand Narrative. Chapter 3 adopts narratological theories to illustrate the basic narrative pattern and the gender-related perspectives of political novels that challenge the Grand Narrative. Chapter 4 analyzes the writing tactics and political ideas of such political novels by analyzing three narrative methods: irony, criticism and parable. Chapter 5 adopts the viewpoints of the epiphany, and observes how writers represent the real world of the Martial Law period based on their own experience or indirectly through word-of-mouth information; this is done based on the analysis of four subject matters: political taboo, freedom of human rights, native language, and history issues. Chapter 6 summarizes the previous chapters and draws five conclusions: 1. Say no to oblivion and converse actively; 2. Reflect reality through self-interpretation; 3. Amplify the past and pursue the truth; 4. Re-evaluate the past; and 5. Look for China and find a new Taiwan. Political novels may have different functions and significance in different historical periods. Time may blur our memory of past ruthless oppression, but writing helps to reawaken public awareness. The insistence on non-violent resistance and refusing to embrace oblivion is deeply buried in the spirits of Taiwan’s writers of political novels. However, among the novel texts that challenge the grand narrative, most of the novels only depict the stories and experiences of the writers themselves, and seldom describes the stories and events of other people, thus only resonating within a limited public. In this new era when the grand narrative has collapsed and different opinions prosper, it is hoped that political novels can escape from their regional and mental restrictions, incorporate the stories of others, and create a glorious trend in Taiwanese literature.