影音檔案庫
Translated by Lee Ying-Yi (李盈儀)
The “importation” of modernism from students studying abroad (mostly in Japan) was the main route of the spreading of modernism among Taiwanese authors during the Japanese colonial era. Iconic modernists poets such as Le Moulin Poetry Society poets Yang Chichang (1908-1994) and Lee Zhangrui (1911-1952) had both studied shortly in Tokyo and had been influenced by Yukio Haruyama’s (1902-1994) intellectualism and Junzaburo Nishiwaki’s surrealist poetics. Lin Xiuer started his studies in the English Department of Keio University in 1933, where he was instructed by Junzaburo Nishiwaki. Regarding novels, Wu Yongfu, who made his fame with short story “Head and Body” that was originally published on Taiwan Arts Study Group’s journal Formosa in Tokyo, was largely influenced by new sensationalist icon Riichi Yokomitsu while he was studying in the Literature and Arts Department of Meiji University. Weng Nao, born in Changhua County, went to Japan for his literary odyssey around Koenjikita in Tokyo after he finished his five-year compulsory education in National Taichung University of Education. Additionally, Liu Na’ou who brought “new sensationalism” to Shanghai and established the “Shanghai new sensationalism” had also studied in Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo. It was when he personally experienced the Great Kanto earthquake, and further witnessed the birth of new sensationalism. Doubtlessly, the authors mentioned above all have each of their own literary talents; however, would it still be possible for them to embark on the road of modernism without the experience of studying in Tokyo, and to develop simply as an “island literary youth” under the New Literary Movements? Even thus, this hypothesis remains worthy of discussion: would pre-war Taiwanese modernist literature be possible if not for what studying abroad (the movement of people) had triggered? We could take one more step back and ask: what are the modernism ideology that can be observed in the spreading of texts on this island?
On June 12th, 1915, Taiwan Daily News published the article “The New and Special Futurism Cuisine” (temporary translation). Although this article is a recipe, it may be Taiwan’s earliest documents that mentioned futurism. There was only a 6-year time difference since F. T. Marinetti (1876-1944) published “Manifesto of Futurism”, of which Ogai Mori had almost simultaneously translated it into Japanese in 1909. However, futurism had not yet flourished in Japan by that time; Tai Kanbara (1898-1997), the icon of Japan futurism, had also not yet written his most significant works “Fatigue” (temporary translation) and “The Heretic” (temporary translation) (1917). Therefore, the dispersing speed is not considered slow. As indicated in the title, the article “The New and Special Futurism Cuisine” is a recipe. It had not really touched upon the movements nor concepts of futurism, but simply considered the “newness” that symbolizes futurism as a rhetorical technique. Other early records of futurism in Taiwan include “Telegraph from the Mainland: Russian Artist Visits” (temporary translation) (October 3rd, 1920) that recorded 布里克‧希, the so called “Father of Futurism” Russian painter, visiting Japan to see the Inten Exhibition and the Imperial Art Academy Exhibition. Another article is “The Bold Futurist Painter: Painting on the Fortress-building Chichijima” (temporary translation) (February 14th, 1921), which recorded Russian futurist painter 斯洛帕斯基 who, originally residing in Yokohama, was arrested and deprived of his paintings while painting on Chichijima (Father Island) in the Ogasawara archipelago on which a fortress was being built.
The official introductory of the development and aesthetic ideology trend of “futurism” is Shomu Nobori’s “Recent Russian Literatures and Arts” (temporary translation)（文藝に現はれた最近の露西亞）〉on May 20th, 1921. Shomu Nobori was originally named Naotaka Nobori (1878-1958). He worked as a professor in the army as well as a Russian literature academic. According to news reports, on the day the article was published, Nobori was just preparing to head back to Japan after his one-month resting journey in Taiwan. This article depicted the uprising and downfalls of Russian futurism. As Shomu Nobori suggested in the article, futurism arts were imported into Russia by the end of the Russian Empire through Italy and France. At the beginning, it was no more than the materials for a casual laugh in magazines, but had recently become the mainstream of Russia’s literature and arts’ ideology.
After the mid-1920s, more articles related to the depictions, practice, and concepts of futurism started to make appearances in Taiwanese media such as Taiwan Daily News and Tainan Shinpo. This may be related to futurism gaining wide attention and practice in the central Japanese literary field during the same time period. On August 8th, 1925, Shinkichi Osawa (1886-?), the editor-in-chief of Taiwan Daily News, wrote an article reflecting his visit to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in his 56th column of his “Europe Traveling Diary” series. He stated in the article, “The pride of futurism, the intensity of colors, and the sensations of the feelings of an instant is overwhelming.” On August 16th, 1926, Tainan Shinpo published a photo captioned “A Woman’s Clothing with Futuristic Patterns.” On July 4th, 1929, the article “Shigematsu’s Solo Exhibition: Chief City of Futurism” published on Taiwan Daily News reported that Japanese futurism artist Shigematsu Iwakichi was executing his sub-tropical sketching research in Tainan, and would be holding his personal exhibition at Taiwan Daily News. It is noteworthy that one of the founders of the avant-garde art group “Action” that was derived from the Second Section Association (Nikakai) system was the most important introducer and practitioner of futurism in Japan––Tai Kanbara. Furthermore, the “Independent Arts Association” established by some members of Second Section Association once exhibited the first “Independent Arts Exhibition” that was originally held in Tokyo in March, 1931 in Taiwan. Tatsushiro Takabatake (1895-1976), one of the co-founders of Independent Arts Association, published a series of four articles titled “On Independent Arts Exhibition” on Taiwan Daily News. The Independent Arts Association that had an avant-garde tendency was the only artistic association that held exhibitions in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, providing an extensive stimulation in the Taiwanese arts field. “New Western Paintings Association” founded in Taiwan was therefore an example of an organization founded in regards to Independent Arts Association which also experimented with avant-garde painting styles. According to these articles related to futurism, it is obvious that futurism is not limited to the literary field; it is even more so related to the artistic scenery with few Japanese practicing futurism in Taiwan. Gradually, we can see a few significant futurism concepts such as machines, speed, and printing techniques being applied in Taiwan Daily News and Tainan Shinpo。
The development of commercialism and industrialization during the 20th century have fundamentally changed people’s lifestyles as well as the way they perceive and imagine the world. Therefore, it is inevitable that the existing aesthetic style that praises the nature and the life of the rural would be abandoned and fully updated.
When the aesthetics of futurism spread to contemporary Japan, Japanese artists had also inherited the adoration to machinery civilization and speed as well as the confidence of being the pioneers of the era. However, it is noteworthy that even though futurism was the first ideology to introduce the beauty of speed and the power of mechanics, the artistic field’s concern to mechanics were no longer limited to that of futurists while machinery culture had been involved in all aspects of our daily lives, changing our ways of living or even changing life itself. During the late 1920s, large amounts of discussions on the intersection between machinery and arts as well as the so called “the beauty of machinery” emerged in Japan. Taiwan, the colonized land that was deeply connected to the central literary and painting field, had also published many related articles with the keyword “machines” in Taiwan Daily News and Tainan Shinpo during the early 1930s. Some articles discuss the machinery civilization from the perspectives of how it shaped the daily lives and sensations of the people, focusing on writing styles and visual arts culture; other articles discuss machines and pop music based from the left-wing stance.
During the 1930s, there were articles published in Taiwan Daily News and Tainan Shinpo that were based on the main concepts of futurism such as machines, speed, and printing techniques without directly indicating futurism. Itaru Nii’s “Walking Toward the Truncated and Transparent Beauty of Machinery and Style” (temporary translation) (〈邁向機械與文體斷截美與明澄美（機械と文體斷截美と明澄美へ）〉) published in Taiwan Daily News on May 12th, 1930 was the most iconic article. In this essay, Itaru firstly mentioned the machines’ influences on society, daily lives, and literature. He then quoted from Amrullo Fox (阿魯耶姆‧福克斯) for his observations on “truncation” which refers to the new style of literature that was influenced by machinery civilization to point out the effects of machines on literature. Based on this foundation, Itaru further talked about two concepts: firstly, the “economics formed by literary styles” deriving from machines, and secondly the relationship between speed and literary styles. Considering the former, Itaru encouraged the deposal of cliché techniques such as describing the cheeks of a child as an apple or cherry, stating, “just as there are no metaphors in paintings, metaphors and adjectives too are not suitable for the rule of economy that is based on literary styles. Machines are the straightforward bright beauty.” As for the relationship between speed and literary styles, Itaru thinks that the sense of speed in literary styles “makes people feel as if experiencing the mobility and rotation through the reflections of an airplane window.” Obviously, both the concept itself and the situations he used to describe the ideology are derived from Marinetti’s “The Manifesto of Literary Techniques of Futurism,” in which Marinetti used his flying experiences to reflect on the liberation of language. We can see that the artistic techniques of futurism had been widely referred to, practiced, and had eventually spread to Taiwan in Japan in the 1930s.
Hayashi Mistuo’s article “Issues Regarding Arts and Speed” published in Taiwan Daily News on June 26th and 29th, 1932 discussing machinery, speed, and arts, particularly in the literary field, have become particularly noteworthy due to its references to Paul Morand’s theories on speed and the reflections he had after breaking away from the adoration for speed. Hayashi quoted from Morand at the beginning of the article, “We are living in the era of speed. No matter if it is a scientific theory, many arts, or even the emotions of the time period, are all dominated by this theory.” Based on Morand’s perspective, Hayashi discusses the dark and light of “speed.” Morand is noteworthy because both Japanese new sensationalism and Shanghai new sensationalism, which was based on the translations and creations of Liu Na’ou from Taiwan, were strongly influenced by him, inheriting his innovation in language styles, infatuation for modern females, and love for travelling. All the while the only understanding for Morand was the spreading and acceptance of his thoughts in Japan and Shanghai; this article published in Taiwan Daily News can be considered as a small evidence of Morand’s arts theory arriving in Taiwan.
“The Dissolving Era in Literary Styles” by Akitoshi Komiyama published in Taiwan Daily News on June 30th and July 7th, 1930, also examined the liberation and new styles of literary forms, but from a left-wing perspective. Komiyama thinks that in coherence to the era, all social systems has each of its own artistic form that rises and falls in response to the society. Therefore, in the era which society deconstructs, the age of artistic deconstruction would also be inevitable. This is the typical Marxist minimalism’s historical explanation. However, Komiyama pointed out that while the deconstruction of a system happens due to conscious movements, the deconstruction of arts often happens unconsciously in the darkness and wordless criticisms, completed along with that of the system. Therefore, Komiyama focuses on “the conscious that promotes deconstructions” among artists in this article. This allows the aesthetic style to dissolve before the society, and thus accelerates the deconstruction of the system. This is the avant-garde of left-wing artists’ “revolutionary arts.”
Editor: Yeh Hsing-Jou
Proofreading: Yizai Seah
