Dialectic Approach to Reality and Fiction : The Historical Fantasy Novel 「Lady the Butterfly」 and Drama 「Seqalu: Formosa 1867」’s Historical Narratives of Taiwan
2021年8月,由陳耀昌小說『傀儡花』改拍成的影劇『斯卡羅』上映後,引發閱讀陳耀昌一系列歷史小説的熱潮,並發展成跨文學、歷史、教育的廣泛反應及討論。這一場全民探尋台灣身世的歷史熱,以‘虛構’小説為起點,卻歸結成‘眞實’歷史的追尋,凸顯出文學與現實之間巨大的張力。陳耀昌的小說接連獲獎,但評論者甚少言及其文學技巧,而多從歷史重現的角度來肯定其作品價值,這不尋常的現象究竟意味著什麽?本文著意於究明陳耀昌采取何種書寫策略來重現福爾摩沙面貌,及如何傳達他所欲强調的多元史觀?筆者將以『傀儡花』為對象,分析其書寫模式,並從相關的評論歸納出台灣各專業領域以何種角度評價其作品,闡述其中的涵義,並結合『斯卡羅』熱映後台灣社會的一系列反應,探究其中傳遞的多層面訊息。
「Seqalu: Formosa 1867」, a movie based on Yaochang Chen (陳耀昌)’s historic novel 「Lady the Butterfly」, aired on Taiwan’s public broadcaster in August of 2021 and obtained the highest viewership. Furthermore, Yaochang Chen’s novel series 福爾摩沙三族記, 獅頭花, 苦楝花, and 島之曦 were reprinted, which all became best sellers, creating a big wave of of rediscovering Taiwanese history among Taiwanese. Although this series of events started from a fictional novel, it focused on exploring histry and reconfirmed the tension between literature and reality. The novel 「Lady the Butterfly」 is based on a real event, the Rover incident, where an American merchant ship wrecked off the coast of Formosa in 1867 and left 14 sailors attacked by Taiwanese Aborigiens. The novel won the gold medal at 2016 Taiwanese Literature Awards and has been an object of interpretation in the academia. The author, Chen, emphasized that he writes with an objective to recreate the true history of Taiwan and that his works are not ‘historic novels’, but rather ‘novelized history’. He presents a pluralistic view and emphasizes the convergence of Taiwanese people. Critics of his work also talk about the truthfulness of history, not aesthetics of his work. This paper illustrates what kinds of narrative strategy Yaochang Chen uses to confer his pluralistic view and what kinds of questions he throws at literary and historic narratives through his original way of novel creation.