CompLit in Taiwan: Translatorially and Essentially Incomplete

Abstract

Since the birth of comparative literature, death has been shadowing its growth and development. Scholars of this field seem to be constantly required to sustain the anxiety of an academic discipline whose identity is perpetually precarious. The indeterminacy of identity, however, is essentially rooted in Taiwan culture and literature, because of a history of colonization by the Dutch, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, and recently the geopolitical tensions between the US and China, with Taiwan being part of the first island chain. The in – betweenness of Taiwan’s geopolitical position also features the comparative literature studies in Taiwan. This presentation will map out the historical development of the comparative literature studies along with translation studies in Taiwan, demonstrate the current local debates (is it dying?), and contend that CompLit studies in Taiwan, corresponding to Taiwaneseness which is inherently embedded by creolism, syncretism and hybridization via translation politics, will continue to live on in a way that will never be completed.