Re-Configuring _Waiwenxi_ in Taiwan, 1960s to 1970s

• Main Authors: Yihung Liu, 劉羿宏
• Other Authors: Naifei Ding
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64149924011554922043

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 英美語文學研究所 === 100 === This thesis reconsiders the knowledge condition of the discipline of foreign literature studies in Taiwan, and complicates the simplified understandings of waiwenxi as either an instrumental department or an agency of western literature and culture. It tries to historicize and problematize waiwenxi by analyzing Chu-Yen Reform, a series of institutional changes conducted by Prof. Chu Limin and Prof. Yen Yuan-shu in National Taiwan University from 1966 to 1975. Chu-Yen Reform is contextualized with the political conditions in Taiwan at that specific juncture. In the 1960s Taiwan, the American politico-cultural forces was epitomized in the Reform, as NTU waiwenxi apparently emulated the US English department; afterwards, in the early 1970s when the international status of the Republic of China was in jeopardy, the Reform (contingently) adjusted its agenda to underscore Chinese literary classics and thus facilitated the rise of comparative literature studies. By elaborating on Chu Limin’s description of such studies, “We had only China and the West,” this thesis argues that the structure of “China versus the west” has effected and framed the knowledge production of waiwenxi. Therefore, the emulation of the US English department in the 1960s and the emphasis on Chinese traditional culture and literature in the 1970s were both structured by the premise “China versus the west,” within which “our” point of reference is fixed to the comparable model, the west. Therefore, the pursuit of the west (the United States of America) in the first half of Chu-Yen Reform and the nationalist feelings for the Chinese in the latter half were dialectically combined into one. To contextualize this structure of “China versus the west” that has constituted the enduring problematics within waiwenxi, this thesis invokes two historical moments—the 1990s Taiwan and the 1940s China—to form a genealogical narrative. It indicates that this structure has framed the knowledge condition of our time, since “our” reference point has been systematically directed to the west in order to learn from it and surpass it. Finally, taking Wen Yiduo’s 1940s discourse that endeavored to overcome the opposition of China and the west as a thinking resource, this thesis hopes to initiate the possibility to reconsider and re-configure waiwenxi as well as literature and literature studies in Taiwan.