Chapter 1: National Allegories As Narratives of National Domestication
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THE RETURN OF THE VANISHING FORMOSAN: DISTURBING THE DISCOURSE OF NATIONAL DOMESTICATION AS THE LITERARY FATE OF THE ABORIGINAL MAIDEN IN POSTWAR TAIWANESE FILM AND FICTION by Darryl Cameron Sterk A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Darryl Cameron Sterk (2009) Abstract The Return of the Vanishing Formosan: Disturbing the Discourse of National Domestication as the Literary Fate of the Aboriginal Maiden in Postwar Taiwanese Film and Fiction Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Darryl Cameron Sterk East Asian Studies University of Toronto Stories about aborigines in a settler society, especially stories about aboriginal maidens and settler men, tend to become national allegories. Initially, the aboriginal maiden is a figure for colonial landscapes and resources, while later, in her conversion in fact or fiction from aboriginal to settler, she helps build national identity. Yet after being romanced, the aboriginal maiden‘s fate is to disappear from settler consciousness, because she is displaced by the national settler mother or because the settler loses interest in her, only to return in abjection to haunt the settler conscience. In her return as a prostitute, a commodified bride or a ghost, she disturbs the discourse of ‗national domestication‘, the notion of nation as family. Though she returns in abjection, an Amazonian association tends to linger in the person of the aboriginal maiden, an association that suggests the kind of self-empowerment on which a healthy liberal society ii depends. In other words, the figure of the aboriginal maiden tends to be used in the construction, the contestation, and potentially the reconstruction of national identity in a settler society. While I discuss examples from settler societies around the world, particularly the story of Pocahontas, and try to contribute to ‗settler colonial discourse studies‘, I focus on postwar Taiwan. This dissertation proposes the notions of the ‗settler society‘ and the Habermasian public sphere as ‗frames‘ for the study of Taiwanese literature. I show how the Formosan aboriginal maiden has been appropriated for the construction and critique of both Chinese and Taiwanese nationalisms. I argue that while nationalism is partly about social control and the advancement of particular interests, writers who have romanced the Formosan aborigine have been implicitly participating in a debate about national domestication, the telos of which is the democratic imagination of a good society, one in which the Formosan aborigines will feel in some sense ‗at home‘, though perhaps not as members of the ‗national family‘. Finally, under the rubric of ‗alternative aboriginal modernities‘, I discuss stories that reread the romance of the Formosan aborigine by aboriginal writers who have entered the national debate. iii Acknowledgements As I finish a dissertation on allegory, I am particularly aware of my own interpersonal relationality; no man is a monad. I could not have done it in the first place had Prof. Johanna Liu not agreed to take me on and let me work on a topic in Taiwan literary studies of my choice under her mentorship. I am grateful to the other core members on my committee, Profs. Vincent Shen and Graham Sanders, and to Prof. Xie Ming, a model of sensitivity in his own research on poetry translation, for coming on near the end of the process. I am also indebted to my external appraiser, Prof. Christopher Lupke of the University of Washington State, for very encouraging yet critical comments, for advice on how to turn it into a book, and for his own inspirational ‗die hard‘ dedication to Taiwanese literature. I should also mention, among mentors, Profs. Daniel Bryant and Richard Lynn. Prof. Bryant got me going in Sinology, while Prof. Lynn helped me find a congenial topic for my MA, which he also supervised with unstinting assistance. At the University of Toronto, I also profited greatly from classes in Buddhism and Daoism taught by Prof. Leonard Priestley. Much appreciated help and encouragement also came from several scholars who responded to my e-mails. They might not remember me, but I wish to acknowledge in particular Profs. Emma Teng, Paul Barclay, David Der-Wei Wang, Carlos Rojas, Michael Berry and Terry Goldie, all of whose research has deepened my dissertation. Also by e-mail, Prof. Yvonne Chang gave me a much needed nudge towards ‗new frames‘ for the study of Taiwanese literature, and I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with her at Fujen University. iv In Taiwan, the friendship of Prof. A-chin Hsiau was invaluable, especially as he helped me give shape to the topic near the beginning of the project. I‘ve learned a great deal about scholarship by trying to follow Prof. Hsiau‘s example. A comment Prof. Sun Dachuan made at a conference provided one of the inspirations for the theoretical orientation, and I‘m grateful to him for sitting down with me to discuss his own aboriginal research. Prof. Huang Mei-e directed me to a fascinating early novel, and Profs. Hsu and Liao let me sit in on their classes at the Institute of Taiwanese Literature and Culture (NTNU). Prof. Hu Wanchuan graciously invited me to his home in Taizhong for an afternoon of good conversation about traditional Chinese fiction and Taiwanese folklore with his graduate student, now Prof. Cheng Mei-hui. The professors at the Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation at National Taiwan Normal University and the people at The Chinese PEN helped me hone my language and translation skills, rounding me out as a literary scholar. At conferences and talks at which I‘ve presented my work, I‘ve profited from the astute comments of such scholars as Terence Russell, Scott Simon, Frank Muyard, Tu Kuo-ching, Stuart Thompson, Paul-François Tremlett, Gregory Blue, Howard Goldblatt, Jeffrey Kinkley, and Liao Ping-hui. My research at the University of Toronto was funded by the UTF fellowship and, during the two years I spent in Taiwan studying translation, the Ministry of Education (ROC). In my final year, during which I wrote it all up, Profs. Shen and Liu made life-saving financial arrangements for me, without which I could never have finished. They have also given me my first substantial teaching experience, valuable more for what I am learning than for the remuneration. Without the support of a number of people, the whole process would have been intolerably solitary. I am forever grateful: To my fellow graduate students in the Department of v East Asian Studies – Ihor Pidhainy, Adam Bohnet, Desmond Cheung, Luo Hui, Steve Trott, Lidu Yi, Mingran Tan, David Chai, Derek Kramer, and Yonsue Kim – listed in the order I remember meeting them. In regard to my place of residence last spring and summer, to Conrad McCallum, Mayumi Kondo, and to Alan and Norma for dinner and company. To Kapur for the Aum shirt. To Celia and Norma. To my Buddhist friends Phillip Ernest, Jeff Lindstrom and Eisel Mazard. To Vincent Tovell, for taking me under his wing in my second year of residence in Toronto. To my oldest friends in Taiwan, Ivan Liu and Kevin Huang. To Lee Su-chuan. To Luo Yongqing. To Scott Sommers and Ann Heylen, for giving me my first big break. To my kickboxing instructors Bi Jinglong and Zhou Baiwan. To Tulip Lihou Chen, who had the nicest apartment in Taiwan and was so nice as to let me water her plants. To my oldest friend in the world, Alex Beecroft, who, farther along the academic road than I, is a beacon. To Alex Davies and Stuart Chambers. To Amir Husain, who was always there to read when things were going badly at the beginning. To Joyce Tse and Sharad Srivastava. To my parents John and Jane, who have always been supportive in every possible way. To my father for his warm-heartedness and responsiveness, and to my mother for her commitment to principle and to participation. To my brother Lindsay, my sister-in-law Nicole and nephews Sam and Tim for being a model of a happy and creative family. Finally, to my wife Joey Su, who is my model of engaged education, sheer generosity, professionalism, wit and enthusiasm. She has suffered the most through my mostly solitary academic ordeal. She made it all possible. I dedicate this dissertation to her. vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... vii Spelling, Citation, and Romanization ............................................................................................ xi Introduction: The Formosan fate of Pocahontas ............................................................................. 1 1. Justification: A new ‗frame‘ for the study of Taiwanese cultural production ........................ 3 2. Method: Allegorical interpretation .......................................................................................... 5 3. Organization .......................................................................................................................... 10 4. Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter