The Eng-Lite Program Lecture Series: Talk No 5
Time：2024.02.29（Thur.）12:20-15:10
Topic：Viewing East Asia from Germany: Structuring and Compiling the History of Taiwan’s Literatures
Speaker：Thilo Diefenbach , Well-known researcher and translator, French-Taiwanese Cultural Foundation Award winner
Host：Li-Hsuan Chang, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University
Venue: NTUGITL R324, Guo Qing Bldg.
By Conrad C. Carl
On February 29, we welcomed to our institute Thilo Diefenbach. Diefenbach is a renowned translator of Taiwanese literature into German, an avid researcher and crucial facilitator of inter-cultural exchange between Germany and Taiwan. Diefenbach studied sinology in Frankfurt, and his biography has been closely intertwined with the literatures from Taiwan. We were eager to listen to Diefenbach’s insights pertaining to the status quo of Taiwan’s literature in Germany, important historical junctures and its prospects.
First of all, it was important to grasp some general context. Translations of Taiwanese literary works made their debut in Germany only as late as the in 1980s. The two most crucial journals that attest to this were Hefte für ostasiatische Literatur (1983) [Magazines for East Asian Literature] and ASIEN—The German Journal of Contemporary Asia (1981). In these early stages, personal preferences of the translators decided which works would eventually be published. There was no general guideline or structured approach to speak of. The first few issues included stories from Pai Hsien-yung, Chang Hsi-kuo, Yang K’uei or Ch’en Jo-hsi.
When it comes to anthologies focused on Taiwan specifically, rather than merely as part of a larger East Asian context, Diefenbach highlighted Blick übers Meer. Chinesische Erzählungen aus Taiwan [Gazing Across the Sea: Chinese Prose from Taiwan] from 1982 or Der ewige Fluß. Chinesische Erzählungen aus Taiwan [Eternal Flow: Chinese Prose from Taiwan] from 1986. The resemblance is striking. In both cases, Taiwanese literature is understood in the context of Chinese, or rather Mandarin literature. However, in 2000, Phönixbaum. Moderne Taiwanesische Lyrik [The Phoenix Tree: Modern Taiwanese Poetry] explored literature from Taiwan as its own unique genre, albeit with poetry in Mandarin still holding the predominant position. In 2017, Diefenbach published the anthology Kriegsrecht. Neue Literatur aus Taiwan [Martial Law: New Literature from Taiwan] which introduced the German reader to yet another thread of Taiwanese literature. Here, martial law was the crucial issue, and works with a political veneer were chosen to be included. While selecting works from different parts of the martial law period itself was the most natural guiding principle of the anthology, Diefenbach went further and broadened the scope by compiling stories form recent times as well. Specifically, this meant that we not only find Yang Kui’s “Declaration of Peace” (1949) which led to his imprisonment on Green Island but also Ke Yu-fen’s “At the Tamsui River” from twelve years ago, in 2012, in the same book. Another more recent example of Taiwan’s literatures being published in Germany and exploring a different context is Erzählungen zeitgenössischer Autorinnen aus Taiwan [Contemporary Prose from Taiwan’s Women Writers] from 2021, which focused on women writers from Taiwan and included works—among others—from Lai Hsiang-yin, Chiu Chang-ting and Chang Yi-hsuan.
In 2022, Thilo Diefenbach published Zwischen Himmel und Meer—Eine Anthologie taiwanischer Literaturen [Between Sky and Sea—an Anthology of Taiwan’s Literatures], which can be regarded as a watershed event. Until then, compilations in German focused on works written in the post-colonial period after 1945. But for Diefenbach, this is too narrow an understanding of a history of Taiwan’s literature. Similarly, German translations until then suffered from another limitation: they exclusively translated and compiled literary works written in Mandarin. With Diefenbach’s Zwischen Himmel und Meer, this changed. He included works covering several centuries, and aside from the canonical works in Mandarin, he included oral literatures from Taiwan’s different indigenous populations, works in classical Chinese during the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as literature written in Japanese. The contributions of Zwischen Himmel und Meer cannot be overstated, as it allowed the German readers to grasp Taiwan’s literary landscape in a much more comprehensive way and to appreciate its diversity. That being said, there are limits to what an anthology can achieve; after all, it is not a fleshed-out and detailed historical account of Taiwan’s literatures and their constituting factors. And Diefenbach’s next project is precisely that.
But how would a German “History of Taiwan’s Literatures” look like? What would be the principles guiding its compilation? For Diefenbach, there are several aspects to consider. First of all, every language found and spoken on Taiwan contributes to its rich and complex literary landscape. This complexity, though, is threatened by simplified accounts that focus merely on works written in Mandarin or during a certain period (for instance, excluding works written in Japanese during the Japanese occupation would leave a gaping hole in any history of Taiwan’s literature). Another question to ponder is: What works can be considered part of Taiwan’s literatures? Diefenbach disagrees with the prevalent idea that the defining aspect of what is and what isn’t part of the Taiwanese literary canon is reduced to the work’s content. In fact, the context of its publication, the reception among Taiwanese readers, as well as the author’s personal background and their relation to Taiwan, to Taiwan’s literary world, and the influence their work has on Taiwan are all much more crucial aspects in determining the contents of a history of Taiwan’s literatures. Here, Diefenbach expounded on the potential structure of such a book. The first chapter will be concerned with Taiwan’s history to give the German reader the much-needed contextualization of what the socio-historical setting for the production of literature in each era was. The second chapter will then dive into oral literatures and thus pay tribute to the incredibly rich traditions of storytelling in indigenous cultures. After that, Diefenbach aims to elaborate the trajectories of classical Chinese literature before exploring the transformations of Taiwan’s literary landscape from the early 1900s to the 1990s. And finally, no literary history would be complete without connecting it to the present. What lessons can be learned? What does this history tell us about where we are right now and where we will be heading?
A book of this magnitude would mark another milestone in the inter-cultural development process between Taiwan and Germany. We eagerly anticipate its publication and the debates and future engagement it will undoubtedly foster between German readers and Taiwan’s literatures. We sincerely thank Thilo Diefenbach for all the insights provided and for allowing us to gain a glimpse into Taiwan through a German lens.
