重层化的“他者”台湾——论西川满的台湾书写

Taiwan as Multiple“The Other”:The Image of Taiwan in the Literary Works of Nishikawa Mitsuru

日本作家西川满以在台三十余年的殖民地体验和记忆,进行了一系列关于台湾的文学书写。其代表作《赤嵌记》重述了明郑台湾经略的历史,《采硫记》描述了清朝台湾开拓的故事,《台湾纵贯铁道》书写了日殖台湾地区的所谓“现代化建设”,《地狱的谷底》则呈现了日本人战后的遣返体验。西川满通过“历史化”“异域化”“文明化”“记忆化”的书写策略,构筑起作为“他者”的台湾形象,将台湾呈现为“历史”重新出发的“据点”、自然风土的“华丽岛”、“文明”尺度上的“殖民地”、个体记忆中的“故乡”。这一重层化的“他者”形象表面上是在展开台湾书写、构筑台湾形象,实质上是以台湾书写为媒介来建构其自身作为“日本人”“开拓者”“文明者”“受害者”的主体身份,对于这一点必须予以揭示和批判。

Japanese writer Nishikawa Mitsuru has written extensively about his experience and memory in colonial Taiwan for more than thirty years.This paper examines his four representative historical novels:The Chronicle of Chihkan,which retells Taiwan’s history in the Ming Zheng period;The Diary of Sulphur Mining,which recounts the Qing dynasty’s settlement in Taiwan;The Taiwan North-South Railway,which illustrates the modernization of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial rule;The Bottom of Hell,which narrates the post-war repatriation experiences.In his writings,Nishikawa Mitsuru depicts Taiwan as“The Other”by using literary and discursive devices including historicism,exoticization,civilization,and memorization.Taiwan is represented as an“outpost”of historical discovery,an“island of wonder”with remarkable landscapes and local customs,a civilizing“colony”,and a“homeland”in individual memory.The multiple images of Taiwan as“The Other”betray the authors’own multi-layered identities as a Japanese citizen,a settler,a civilizer,as well as a victim,of which we should be aware and critical.