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Title:
Taiwanese Literature from the 1950s to the 1960s —with Books in Romanized Taiwanese as the Scope
Abstract:
‘Romanized Taiwanese’ (Pe̍h-ōe-jī) is the written language of Taiwanese (Tâi-gí). From 1885 to 1969, it was mainly promoted by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan in churches, and a large number of rich and precious documents, including religious, linguistic, literary, historical, medical and other documents were left. In May 2020, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture Taiwan registered "Romanized Taiwanese" in the second Memory of the World Programme National Registry of Taiwan. As a result, the historical position and cultural value of Romanized Taiwanese in carrying the memory of Taiwanese people was officially affirmed. The purpose of this study is to explore the development, achievements and characteristic content of Taiwanese literature in the post-war period. The setting for the research is the period between 1950s and 1960s, since this period of time was when a large number of Romanized Taiwanese periodicals and books were published, and also the end of the period when Romanized Taiwanese was banned by the government in 1969. The research scope focuses on books in Romanized Taiwanese, and explores Romanized Taiwanese literary works in collections, the background of their publication, writers' works and literary features. The purpose of this study is to re-examine the significance of ‘Romanized Taiwanese’ to the history of Taiwanese literature from the 1950s to the 1960s after the war through the historical materials of Romanized Taiwanese during this period.
