Though the Light is Dim, the Soul of Literature Endures: Japanese-Language Writings and Translation in Postwar Taiwan

Writers of the Japanese-language generation occupied a marginal position within the literary field. Although their visibility was limited, they continued to sustain individual literary practices and contributed to the continuity of literary production.

This book examines the historical context following the dissolution of the Japanese Empire and Taiwan’s incorporation into the institutional framework of the Republic of China, during which forms of “Taiwan-centered knowledge” were progressively marginalized. Within this context, writers from different provincial backgrounds continued to make use of the remaining cultural resources of the Japanese language. Rather than focusing on individual authors, the book adopts the analytical perspectives of “Japanese language” and “translation” to reconsider how, in different postwar settings in Japan and Taiwan, writers employed Japanese to address themes such as the February 28 Incident, war memories, and colonial trauma, thereby articulating their sustained engagement with literary practice.

From the perspective of translation studies in Taiwan, the book further analyzes how colonial experience shaped literary translation practices and reassesses the significance of translation as a mode of textual production in decolonial and postcolonial contexts. Although the creative output of this Japanese-language generation remained outside the postwar Chinese-language literary mainstream and was relatively limited in scale, it persisted over time. By examining this body of work, the book contributes to an expanded understanding of Taiwanese literary history and opens new directions for research.