Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series, No. 53 (Special Issue on Taiwan's Mystery Fiction)

The development of Taiwan’s mystery novels shares modernist characteristics and co-exists with the mainstream history of Taiwan literature. Taiwan’s mystery novels, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, have been deeply influenced by Japan, both in theory and creation, especially in the exploration of so-called “original style.”

Professor Kuo-wei Chen has discussed the development and genre of mystery novels in Taiwan in different fora. The introduction written for this issue, in addition to including a brief overview, breaks new ground and puts forward a new perspective on Taiwanese mystery novels as “the starting point of literary modernity.” He argues that the origins of Taiwanese modernism should be found not in the 1960s but with the introduction of detective novels in the second half of the 19th century during the Japanese colonial period. Taiwan’s first detective novel appeared on January 7, 1898.

As explained in Professor Chen’s introduction, in the 21st century, Taiwan’s mystery novels, as a whole, have entered the “genre revival” stage in which the pursuit of puzzle solving is the core creative motif. Young writers are ambitious, and in their literary practice they combine European and American classical reasoning with Japanese “original” reasoning, which takes “puzzle solving” as its core, while seeking to learn from the “narrative trick” of the Japanese master of mystery fiction, Ayatsuji Yukito. “Original” reasoning and social realism have become the two current creative directions of Japanese mystery novels, and they have also influenced Taiwanese creators. From the various works that have won awards, including the International Translation Award, we can see that the development of mystery novels in Taiwan is full of vitality, with many competing voices and stylistic modes, each one having its own advocate. It attracts readers with the intrigue of solving puzzles and challenges readers’ intelligence with artful narrative tricks. Mystery novels are one of the marvels of Taiwanese popular literature. Taiwanese works are also esteemed in the international arena, and their writing style with Taiwanese characteristics is gradually attracting attention. In this era of transnational cultural communication with diverse creative styles and broad readership, it is possible for writers in Taiwan to keep up with the trends in Europe, America and Japan, gain international recognition, and become the pioneers leading Taiwanese literature onto the world stage.