Historical Representation and National Myth in Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “A City of Sadness” and Lin Yaode’s 1947 Formosan Lilies

 

Pei-Yin Lin (SOAS, University of London)

 

This paper explores how history has been revised and reinterpreted in Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “A City of Sadness” and Lin Yaode’s 1947 Formosan Lilies.  It consists of three sections.  The first section analyses the historical representation of the February 28^th Incident in Hou’s film.  It discusses how Hou attempted to dilute the collective sadness with his focus on personal narrative (as viewed by Hiromi and the Lin family).  It then reads Hou’s rather indirect tackling of the February 28^th Incident as a de-politicised attempt to invite multiple discourses about the massacre.  It also explores the questions about history and identity that the film raises.  The second section centres on Lin’s novel, examining how Lin de-constructed and re-constructed the cultural myth of the Taiya tribe.  It concentrates on the three main characters - Watao Baiyang, his Catholic son Guwei Baiyang, and his grandson Luo Luogan.  Watao is seen as a symbol of the old Taiya myths, and Luo Luogan an embodiment of an alternative new myth.  Guwei is read as a part of the generation witnessing the transformation of the two competing cultural authorities – the traditional Taiya myth, and the Catholic belief preached by Father Andrew.  The reading also scrutinises the various images of Formosan lilies (often as an emblem of the Taiya people) in this novel.  It demonstrates the emptiness and mythic characteristics of history.  The third part concludes how Hou and Lin revealed an intoxicating narrative complementary to the monolithic official history respectively through intermingling the personal story with collective history, and the use of collage and magic realism.