Writing in My Voice: Four Modalities of Myth-Writing in Taiwanese Indigenous Sinophone Literature

Dirk Kuhlmann

《Ex-position》 42期 (2019/12) Pp. 29-51

https://doi.org/10.6153/EXP.201912_(42).0003

摘要

This article treats the creative process of indigenous authors of Taiwan adapting various myths of their peoples in their Sinophone literary writings. Analyzing selected fictional works by Syaman Rapongan, Husluman Vava, Neqou Soqluman, and Badai, as well as a poem by Salizan Takisvilainan, I will discuss the authors' motivation for tapping into the mythology of their people in the quest for their individual authorial voice. A guiding question of this article is to what extent this recourse to traditional materials corresponds with a trend among indigenous Taiwanese authors of writing in their own voice, as Paelabang Danapan (Sun Tachuan) has proposed. I will discuss these adaptations of myths in light of a four-modality framework of myth-writing: myth as heritage, myth as lived tradition, myth as expression of human experience, and myth as source of inspiration.

關鍵字

myth ； myth-writing ； cultural identity/ies ； personal vs. communal perspectives ； Sinophone indigenous literature ； Taiwan

參考文獻

Neqou Soqluman. Donggu shafei chuanqi: Palisia Tongku Saveq (The Legend of Tongku Saveq). Zhonghe: INK, 2008.

Pasuya Poiconu (Basuya Boyinzhenu). Taiwan yuanzhuminzu wenxue shigang (Historical Outline of the Literature of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples). Taipei: Liren shuju, 2009.

Pasuya Poiconu (Basuya Boyinzhenu). (Pu Chung-chen). Literary History of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples, Volume I. Trans. Wordsworth [Wu Xianming]. Taipei: Le Jin, 2012.

Riendeau, Natalie. The Legendary Past: Michael Oakeshott on Imagination and Political Identity. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2014. Kindle eBook.

Russell, Terrence C. “The Mythology and Oral Literature of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples.” Taiwan Literature English Translation Series 24 (2009): xxi-xxx. Web. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.