殖民下的精神荒蕪：日據時期台灣小說中的殖民性接受過程

Abstract

From the perspective of world history, Taiwan becoming a Japanese colony in 1895 can be regarded as a result of the global expansion of modern western civilization. Japan, the first country in Asia to be westernized, overthrew its feudal system during the rule of Emperor Meiji. This laid a foundation for the prevailing capitalism then, allowing Japan to join the ranks of western empires in colonizing other countries. Taiwan, being a victim within the historical context, became the first overseas colony of Japan. The assimilation policy promoted by the Japanese government in Taiwan aimed to convert Taiwanese people into part of the Japanese race by spreading modern western civilization into Taiwan, modernizing Taiwanese people, and at the same time educating them with the national spirit of Japan based on the principles of treating Taiwan as an extension of Japan homeland and everyone treated alike. The dual discourse of colonization which shaped the concept of civilized Japan and barbaric Taiwan gradually emerged after a long period of promotion of the assimilation policy, which centered on modernization and Japanization. This study targets Taiwanese novels during the Japanese colonial period to explore and analyze how such discourse and cultural supremacism imposed on Taiwanese people by the Japanese government were reflected on the fictional characters in these novels and how they affected identity and ethnic identity on the basis of the above interpretation of the historical background.