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Yeh Shih-tao

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Taiwanese writer and historian

In this Chinese name, the family name is Yeh.
Yeh Shih-tao
葉石濤
Born1925
Tainan, Japanese Taiwan
Died11 December 2008
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
NationalityRepublic of China
Occupation(s)Writer, historian
Yeh Shih-tao Literature Memorial Hall in Tainan

Yeh Shih-tao (Chinese: 葉石濤; pinyin: Yè Shítāo; Wade–Giles: Yeh Shih-t'ao; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ia̍p Se̍k-tô͘; 1925 – 11 December 2008) was a pioneering Taiwanese writer and historian spanning both the Japanese rule and post-war periods, who specialized in the literary history of Taiwan and the lives of ordinary Taiwanese people. His primary focus was on novels and critiques, supplemented by essays and translations, and was considered a seminal figure in Taiwanese literary criticism.

Biography

Yeh Shih-tao was born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1925 at a time when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. His early writings were in Japanese, but he switched to Chinese after the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek gained control of Taiwan following the end of World War II. He wrote three novels while attending high school, one of which, titled A Letter from Lin (林君來的信), was published in April 1943 as Yeh's debut work. He was arrested by the Chiang Kai-shek regime in 1951 and imprisoned for three years for allegedly harboring "communist agents." After his release from prison, Yeh became a schoolteacher. In 1965, Yen published Youth (青春), which he described as his first serious work since the war ended.

Yeh later served as an adviser of the Teacher Human Rights Advocate Committee in Kaohsiung, and was appointed a national policy adviser to the Chen Shui-bian government. Yeh Shih-tao died of intestinal cancer in Kaohsiung, on 11 December 2008, at the age of 83. He had been continuously hospitalized since February 2008. Yeh was survived by his wife and two sons.

Career

Author of No Land, No Literature (沒有土地, 哪有文學), The Dilemmas of Taiwan Literature and History of Taiwanese Literature (台灣文學史綱), he chronicled 300 years of the island's literary history and gained renown "for his searing portrayals of ordinary Taiwanese". His best known work was likely The Chronicle of Taiwanese Literature, a compilation of Taiwanese historical literature published in 1987.

Yeh Shih-tao's early literary influences came from the Japanese writer Mitsuru Nishikawa, and his works bore a romanticism tint. In 1945, with the Nationalist government taking control of Taiwan, Yeh began learning Chinese and started experimenting with Chinese-language writing. He was one of the earliest Taiwanese writers to overcome language barriers, contributing essays, critiques, and translations to newspapers. During the White Terror period in 1951, he was arrested by the Nationalist government for allegedly harboring “communist agents” and served three years in prison. After his release, he continued his career in education while engaging in literary creation and criticism. After being transferred to Kaohsiung in 1967, where he settled, he passed away in 2008. In 1987, Yeh Shih-tao completed A History of Taiwan Literature (臺灣文學史綱), actively participating in the construction of Taiwan's literary history.

Yeh Shih-tao believed in constructing a literary historical perspective for Taiwan based on the nativism consciousness in regional literature. In his review of Forty Years of the Taiwanese New Literary Movement, a work by Peng Jui-chin (彭瑞金), he emphasized that Taiwanese literature is part of world literature, not subordinate to any external ruling nationality. A similar statement has also been made about the relationship between Taiwan literature and world literature:  “one of the main tasks of modern Taiwan literature to be undertaken is to…… build up a literature with both Taiwan’s unique features and visions eyeing at the world.” Even during the Japanese rule period, Taiwanese literature was not an extension of Japanese literature, and after World War II, Taiwanese literature did not belong to Chinese literature. Therefore, Yeh intentionally built Taiwanese nativist literature, constructing a view of Taiwanese literary history through the societal background, local environment, and the roots and changes in literary inheritance.

Yeh's works of fiction have been translated to a number of languages, among them English, Japanese, Korean, Malay, and Vietnamese. A documentary about the author, Yeh Shih-tao, A Taiwan Man, was released in 2022.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Taiwanese writer Yeh Shih-tao dies". Taiwan News. 11 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 December 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  2. ^ Han Cheung (5 December 2021). "Taiwan in Time: The writer who ate dreams". Taipei Times. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  3. "Obituaries". The Washington Post. 14 December 2008. Yeh Shih-tao Taiwanese Writer. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  4. "Taiwanese writer Yeh Shih-tao dies". China Post. Associated Press. 12 December 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  5. Lin, I-Jou (2016). 葉石濤後期小說中的台灣意識 [Taiwanese consciousness in Yeh Shih-tao’s late stories]. National Dong Hwa University. p. 15.
  6. Tsai, Mei-li (2008). 未竟的志業：日治世代的台灣文學史書寫 [Unfulfilled Dream: Analysis of the history of Taiwanese literature written by those who grew up in Taiwan during Japanese occupation period]. National Tsing Hua University. p. 165.
  7. Yeh, Shitao (2018). "序" [Preface]. Taiwan wenxue shigang [A History of Taiwan Literature]. Kaohsiung: Chunhui chubanshe. p. 8.
  8. Chen, Fang-ming (2002). "葉石濤的台灣文學史觀之建構" [The Construction of Yeh Shih-tao's View of Taiwanese Literary History]. 後殖民台灣 [Postcolonial Taiwan]. Taipei: Rye Field Publishing Co. p. 49.
  9. Lin, Hui-Ping (1 January 2013). "葉石濤的文學歷程與歷史軌跡" [Yeh Shih-tao's Literary Journey and Historical Trajectory]. Xingguo Academic Journal (14): 11–26.
  10. So Li Nah; William Yen (23 April 2019). "Works by renowned Taiwan writer published in Malay: official". Central News Agency. Retrieved 24 April 2019. Republished as "Yeh Shih-tao's stories translated for Malaysians". Taipei Times. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  11. Chen, Cheng-yu; Liu, Tzu-hsuan (22 June 2022). "Lawmakers promote film about Taiwanese writer". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 June 2022.

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