ABSTRACT

The comparison to Maoist literature for workers, peasants, and soldiers was one of the more dangerous descriptions imposed upon nativist (xiangtu鄉土) authors by critics who were opposed to the 1970s literary movement in Taiwan.1 In the late 1970s, before the lifting of martial law, authors still had to be careful of how far they went with their left leaning rhetoric, as Chen Yingzhen, one of the leading members of the native soil group,2 had intimate experience with, having been imprisoned for many years because of his vocal support for the lower classes in society and the expression of it in his literature.3 Most people saw through the extreme rhetoric of establishment critics and it certainly did not prevent the nativists from publishing widely, both fiction and critical essays. The connection to Chinese literature was not something they themselves entirely disavowed, especially if the connection was made to literature written in the May Fourth tradition. What, then, is the connection between Taiwan nativist literature and Maoist literature? This chapter compares literature from the early Maoist period in the PRC (1950s and early 1960s) with that produced in Taiwan’s nativist movement of the 1970s. While there are significant differences in the social backgrounds, economic structures, political environments, and writing practices of authors in these two different locations, they all endeavored to create a body of socially committed literature that would elevate the status of members of the lower classes. Authors in both traditions portray the transition of society from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial economy, and they all believe that some form of realism is the best way to reach the people. This connection between realist fiction in Taiwan and China begs the question of whether or not we can understand what may be defined as “Chinese realism” by comparing the work from these two traditions. How do two different literary traditions attempt to create a body of socially engaged literature using realist tenants? What do authors and critics see as the limits of the project? How do these experiments get carried out in their fiction, and how does the social background of each society change the appearance of the literary texts?