Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)
Kornélia MAJOR: The Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety. Chen Yingzhen's Latest Short Stories
KORNELIA MAJOR THE PARK OF LOYALTY AND FILIAL PIETY: CHEN YINGZHEN'S LATEST SHORT STORIES* If we glance at the offer of Taiwanese bookshops or have a look at literary journals and count the translations of Taiwanese literary works produced in the recent 15-20 years, we can be convinced that Taiwanese literary life is highly vigorous and many-coloured, with highquality works being produced. 1 From the most recent Western literary movements to traditional forms we can find everything: women's literature, traditional Chinese poetry, the literature of the aboriginal, queer literature, works by Chinese born in Malaysia etc. This plethora of works provided, Chen Yingzhen 2 , who was greatly esteemed in the 1980s and arose interest with his brave choice of subject matter and his activity in public life, seems to have been thrown into the background by now. Is it really so, and, if yes, what are the underlying reasons? "In Chen Yingzhen's world, the mainlanders have endless, unbroken memories. In their distant, faraway homeland they once had wives, lovers and old friends who still haunt their dreams. They have memories of the mountains and rivers of home; of the upheaval, the exile and the suffering they have experienced; [... ] They had glory in the past and suffer spiritual and material decline in the present. How the dramatic birthpangs of twentiethcentury China, crisscrossed with invasions and revolutions and moving into a more modern period of its history, have affected the mainlan* This study has been sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies in Taibei (1 April 2003 - 30 June 2003). ders living in exile in Taiwan - this is the interest Chen Yingzhen finds in these stories..." 3 This is what Chen wrote about himself in 1975, analysing his own early works. Chen Yingzhen, though born in Taiwan, always considered himself as a Chinese writer, that is, a Chinese writer who lives and works in Taiwan. For him, China is the homeland, connected to Taiwan with thousands and thousands of bonds; the Chinese who settled in Taiwan after 1945 are living representatives of this connection. It is a peculiar, often incomprehensible relationship, burdened with many historical, political and social conflicts. An early short story by Chen Yingzhen, entitled Xiangcun de jiaoshi [The Counrty Village Teacher, I960] 4 gives an interesting, twisted representation of this relationship. The protagonist is a young, dreamy, indifferent and introvert Taiwanese teacher, Wu Jinxiang, who is unable of independent action. It is those elements that he used to consider as characteristic, dominant features of Chinese culture (that is, the co-existence of amazing greatness and unbelievable decay) that grow dominant in his fate. This realisation fills him with wonder and melancholic sadness, yet these feelings urge him to isolate and conduct passive contemplation, but not to act. He tries to break free out of isolation; once he boasts that during the war he ate human flesh and human heart, 5 however, the villagers ostracise him. Nevertheless, the main reason for his alienation is the fact that he knows that his zeal and enthusiasm is nothing but self-deceit: "his
