{"id":9508,"date":"2025-02-18T19:43:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T11:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/?p=9508"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:43:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T11:43:53","slug":"taiwan-travelogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/en\/2025\/02\/18\/taiwan-travelogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan Travelogue\u00a0(\u81fa\u7063\u6f2b\u904a\u9304)\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Literature from Taiwan has been on the upswing internationally for several years now, forming an important avenue through which to showcase Taiwan\u2019s rich cultural identity, and there is no better example of this than the 2024 winner of the American National Book Awards in Translation: Taiwan Travelogue<\/em>, by Yang Shuang-zi (\u694a\u53cc\u5b50).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang Shuang-zi, which literally means \u201ctwins\u201d is the pen name of novelist and manga artist Yang Ruoci (\u694a\u82e5\u6148), and her sister, Yang Ruohui (\u694a\u82e5\u6689), though Yang Ruoci has adopted it for herself since her sister\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan Travelogue<\/em> (\u81fa\u7063\u6f2b\u904a\u9304) was originally published in 2020. Its translation by Lin King (\u91d1\u7fce), published by Graywolf Press, won the 2024 National Book Awards in Translation, the first work from Taiwan to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though written in Mandarin, it presents itself as the Mandarin translation of a rediscovered Japanese novel, a travelogue of a Japanese writer running from an arranged marriage. The relationship the protagonist builds with her Taiwanese guide as they travel the island experiencing local food culture reflects the ethnic, class, and identity conflicts between and within the colonizer and colonized. Its focus on food culture and gender makes it interesting and accessible to a wide audience, in Taiwan and abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a later interview with Commonwealth Magazine, she said that she sees herself as a lever by which Taiwan literature can open itself to the world, and the visible tip of the Taiwan literature movement itself. Hence, when making her acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, she spoke not for herself, but for Taiwan literature and Taiwanese as a whole: \u201cWhy [do I] write about things that happened a hundred years ago? My answer is always that because writing about the past takes us towards the future\u2026Taiwanese opinions on national and ethnic identities have changed\u2026I write in order to answer the question, what is a Taiwanese person?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time her work has been translated; the Japanese edition of Taiwan Travelogue<\/em> had already won the Best Japanese Translation Award in May of 2024. The Story of Fantasy Flower<\/em> (\u7dba\u8b5a\u82b1\u7269\u8a9e), another novel about female friendship set in the Japanese colonial era and published in 2020, was adapted into a manga by artist Monday Recover, and also translated into Japanese in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan literature has also been making inroads in German. Von Berglern und Geheimagenten <\/em>\u2013Zeitgen\u00f6ssische Erz\u00e4hlungen aus Taiwan<\/em> (Of Mountain Men and Secret Agents <\/em>\u2013 Contemporary Tales from Taiwan<\/em>), the German edition of \u300a\u539f\u4f4f\u6c11\u8207\u5978\u7d30\u2014\u2014\u7576\u4ee3\u81fa\u7063\u77ed\u7bc7\u5c0f\u8aaa\u9078\u96c6\u300b, translated by Hsu An-Nie (\u5f90\u5b89\u59ae), was released last year as well. The book consists of a compilation of twelve stories, each by a different author (including three Indigenous writers). The common thread uniting the stories is identity and identity politics. The title itself is a reference to this: the \u201cmountain men\u201d (Indigenous or other marginalized groups) become \u201csecret agents,\u201d disguising themselves to fit into the dominant group in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This volume follows on the footsteps of the first Taiwanese story compilation published by Projekt-Verlag, Erz\u00e4hlband Von Wahrsagern und Technofrauen<\/em> (Of Fortune Tellers and Techno-women<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Czech market, as well, is now no stranger to literature from Taiwan. Similar to the above tomes in German, V\u00fdbor modern\u00ed tchajwansk\u00e9 pr\u00f3zy \/2 <\/em>is the Czech translation of \u300a\u7a7f\u5225\u4eba\u7684\u76ae\u819a\uff1a\u73fe\u4ee3\u81fa\u7063\u6587\u5b78\u9078\u96c62\u300b(In Someone Else\u2019s Skin: Selections of Modern Taiwan Literature 2<\/em>). This 2024 volume by Mi: L\u00f9 Publishing features works by ten notable authors, including Kaori Lai (\u8cf4\u9999\u541f), Wu Ming-yi (\u5433\u660e\u76ca), Egoyan Zheng (\u4f0a\u683c\u8a00), Pai Hsien-Yung (\u767d\u5148\u52c7), and Chen Xue (\u9673\u96ea), dating from between 1937 and 1977, touching on themes of identity, self-awareness, and trauma, and how they change under the pressures of political, social, and cultural upheaval. It was published in parallel with the Czech edition of Chi Ta-wei\u2019s (\u7d00\u5927\u5049) Membr\u00e1ny<\/em> (\u300a\u819c\u300b, The Membranes<\/em>). Chi Ta-wei is best known for his attention and contributions to LGBTQ+ literature in Taiwan; The Membranes<\/em> depicts a cyberpunk future where humanity has been forced to migrate to the ocean floor after an environmental catastrophe, and has already been widely translated into other European languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation and overseas publishing of Taiwan literature has proven itself to be one of the more effective means of cultural outreach, allowing writers in Taiwanese languages to demonstrate Taiwan\u2019s diversity and uniqueness through a wide variety of genres. Its recent growth is a sign that readers around the world are recognizing the significance of Taiwan\u2019s cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Taiwan Travelogue (\u81fa\u7063\u6f2b\u904a\u9304) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Literature from Taiwan has been on the upswing internat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-4","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9510,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9508\/revisions\/9510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}