Wang Chang-hsiung
Wang Chang-hsiung (Chinese: 王昶雄; 1915–2000), originally named Wang Jung-sheng (王榮生), was a dentist and writer born in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. He gained recognition for his novella A Raging Torrent (奔流) published in 1943, which received diverse reviews due to its seemingly political nature and struggles with national identity.[1]
Works
[edit]Wang Chang-hsiung entered Nihon university in 1935 and published new poems like "Notes from a Narrow Lane" (陋巷札記) and the novella Ripples of the Tamsui River (淡水河之漣漪) in the Taiwan New People Newspaper (臺灣新民報) during his study in Tokyo. Ripples of the Tamsui River was his first fiction published in a newspaper. In 1942, he returned to Taiwan and opened a dental clinic in Tamsui. Besides his profession, he continued writing[2] and gained attention with the novella A Raging Torrent in 1943.[3] Due to political circumstances, Wang suspended his writing activities until around the 1960s. In 1958, he wrote the lyrics for the song "If We Open the Doors of Our Hearts” (阮若打開心內的門窗), composed by Lu Chuan-sheng (呂泉生), becoming a representative work in the popular Taiwanese music of that time.[2]
Reception
[edit]At the time of its publication, A Raging Torrent was regarded by the Japanese colonial authorities as a pinnacle work of Imperial Subject Literature. The story depicts the emotional journey of characters like Ito Shunsai (伊東 春生) and Lin Bonien (林柏年) under Japanese colonial rule, ostensibly praising the greatness of Imperialization while highlighting the suffering of the people in Taiwan who couldn't adapt.[4]
Scholars have debated the political stance of A Raging Torrent and related works from the same period. Some argue that, in the context of the time and space in which A Raging Torrent was published, all articles in Taiwan were Imperialized Subject Literature;[5] others contend that it was all protest literature, not Imperialized Subject Literature.[6] There are also scholars who see protest literature and Imperial SubjectLiterature as classification methods used by researchers studying the new literature of Taiwan in the Japanese era.[7]
Reference
[edit]- ^ Kao, Chien-Her (2023). 王昶雄文學歷程之研究 [Research on Wang Chang-Hsiung's History of Literature]. Department of Chinese Literature and Applications, Fo Guang University.
- ^ a b Hsu, Chun-ya, ed. (2014). 臺灣現當代作家研究資料彙編：59王昶雄 [Research Materials on Contemporary Taiwanese Writers: 59 Wang Chang-hsiung]. Tainan: National Museum of Taiwan Literature. p. 43.
- ^ Zhang, Henghao (1991). "反殖民的浪花：王昶雄及其代表作〈奔流〉" [Waves of Anti-Colonialism: Wang Chang-hsiung and His Representative Work 'A Raging Torrent']. 覺醒的島國──南臺灣文學（一）──臺南市作家作品集 [Awakening Island Nation—Southern Taiwan Literature (Volume 1)—Works of Tainan Writers]. Taipei: Avanguard Publishing House. pp. 164–182.
- ^ Kawajiri, Kazuya (2013). "日治時代末期陳火泉創作與思想的相關考察－與周金波、王昶雄作品、思想之比較" [An Investigation into the Late Period of Japanese occupation Rule: The Creation and Thought of Chen Huo-chuan Compared with the Works and Thoughts of Chou Chin-po and Wang Chang-hsiung]. 淡江日本論叢 [Tamsui Journal of Japanese Studies]. Vol. 28. pp. 69–93.
- ^ Noma, Nobuyuki (1994). "張文環的文學活動及其特色" [Chang Wen-huan's Literary Activities and Their Characteristics]. In Huang, Yingzhe; Tu, Cuihua (eds.). 台灣文學研究在日本 [Research on Taiwanese Literature in Japan]. Taipei: Vanguard. p. 24.
- ^ Yeh, Shih-tao. "皇民文學" [Imperial Literature]. 台灣文學的悲情 [The Tragedy of Taiwanese Literature]. Kaohsiung: Paiseh Culture. p. 127.
- ^ Huang, Huizhen (1999). "抗議作家的皇民文學 一楊達戰爭期小說評述" [Protesting Writers' Imperial Japanese Literature – A Critique of Yang Kui's Wartime Novels]. Chinese Studies (53). National Chengchi University.