Lost and Found: Issues of Translating Japanophone Taiwanese Literature

Abstract

: A high percentage of colonial Taiwanese literary works during the late Taish ō period to the Sh ō wa period (1920 – 1946) was written in Japanese. To write in Japanese was not only a promising way to have works published in imperial Japan, but also provided a possible path for Taiwanese authors to reach a wider readership among Japanophone communities in East Asia. However, in the im-mediate post-war years, the body of Japanophone Taiwanese literature was “ torn off ” from Taiwanese literary history in the name of “ decolonization. ” All publications in Japanese were abolished in Taiwan from 1946, and it was not until the lift-ing of the thirty-eight-year period of martial law that Japanophone Taiwanese literature was finally reintroduced to post-war Taiwanese generations in Chinese translation. This article will tackle the issues of how Japanophone Taiwanese literature was “ translated back ” into Chinese in order to reflect “ authentic ” Taiwanese culture. The translations of the Taiwanese writer Nao Weng ’ s works will be used as examples, as his modernist literary representation is particularly worthy of scrutiny and highly challenging for translators to render “ faithfully. ”