Prehistory of Taiwan Prose: Historiography and Cultural Subjectivity in Contemporary Anthologies

Tzu-huan Chiu

doi:10.66815/ejecs/2598

Authors

Tzu-huan Chiu Chung Yuan Christian University https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0844-6172

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66815/ejecs/2598

Keywords:

anthology, canonization, cultural identity, cultural subjectivity, historical perspective

Abstract

This article examines the historiographical intentions and cultural subjectivities underlying three major series anthologies of Taiwan prose from the first two decades of the 21st century. These collections demonstrate canonical ambitions and reflect divergent literary historiographies influenced by Taiwan’s complex ethnic and ideological milieu. Analyzing their selection criteria and editorial discourse, the study identifies three epistemological orientations: affirming Taiwan’s cultural subjectivity through national literature, reclaiming intellectual writing, and exposing the limits of diasporic Chinese identity. These anthologies are not neutral compilations but actively shape canon, cultural identity, and literary memory. In the absence of a monograph on the history of Taiwan prose, this article conceptualizes these anthologies as constituting a “prehistory” of prose historiography, examining how ethnicity and politics intersect in processes of canon formation. Thus, these selections function both as repositories and as historiographical interventions in Taiwan’s evolving literary field. In terms of the operational mechanisms of literary historiography, although this study centers on Taiwan prose anthologies, its inquiry extends to the broader issue of how cultural identity informs and complicates the construction of the literary canon.

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Author Biography

Tzu-huan Chiu, Chung Yuan Christian University

is an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for General Education, Chung Yuan Christian University, where he teaches literary reading and writing. His research focuses on cultural identity and contemporary literature in Taiwan, particularly issues of historiography and cultural subjectivity.

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