Nativist Literature Debate

Source: Nativist Literature Debate
From: Taiwan Literature Network

The eruption of the 1970s “Nativist Literature Debate” was “the largest-scale cultural controversy since Taiwan’s postwar era. Moreover, the debate was not confined to the literary sphere alone — it encompassed ideological conflicts in the political and economic dimensions as well, and can therefore be described as a comprehensive intellectual and cultural dispute.” In May 1977, Yeh Shih-tao published “An Introduction to the History of Taiwanese Nativist Literature” in Hsia Chao magazine, sparking discussion about the concept of “nativist literature” — particularly in Cactus‘s April issue, which printed Wang To’s “It Is ‘Realist’ Literature, Not ‘Nativist’ Literature.” Other writers offered contrasting views: Yin Cheng-hsiung with “What Bell Tolls from a Graveyard?” and Chu Hsi-ning with “Return to Where? How to Return?” On August 17, Central Daily News chief editorial writer P’eng Ko published “Without Humanity, What Literature?” in the United Daily News, leveling criticism at the literary views of Wang To, Chen Ying-chen, and Yu Tien-ts’ung. On August 20, also in the United Daily News, Yu Kuang-chung published “The Wolf Is Coming,” alleging that “in Taiwan today, some are openly advocating ‘worker-peasant-soldier literature'” — insinuating that these “worker-peasant-soldier cultural workers” had connections to the Communist Party. Tensions in the debate escalated, and the number of participants surged. In late August 1977, a “Second Literature and Arts Conference” was convened, composed of government, party, and military representatives — Ting Mao-shih, Li Yuan-chu, Wang Sheng, Li Huan — along with literary figures including Yu Kuang-chung and Yin Hsueh-man; 270 participants gathered to discuss current cultural policy, the function of literature and the arts, and international cultural exchange. In the end, the controversy concluded when the authorities broadened the definition of “nativist literature,” reframing it as “patriotic literature” and “national literature,” thereby defusing its political charge. Yet the fierce debate of the Nativist Literature Controversy prompted more and more people to ponder the question of Taiwan’s subjecthood; that passion burned on into the 1980s and 1990s.

Three articles published in Cactus magazine’s April 1977 issue that ignited Taiwan’s “Nativist Literature Debate.”

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External Links

• Nativist Literature Debate (Encyclopedia of Taiwan)
• Yu Kuang-chung’s “The Wolf Is Coming” — Full Text
• Taiwan Nativist Literature Debate (Wikipedia)
• From Nativist Literature to Taiwan Literature: On the 1970s Nativist Literature Debate (National Tsing Hua University Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature)