(Central News Agency reporter Dai Yazhen, Tokyo, 5th) The Japanese translation of Taiwanese writer He Zhihe's novel "Flower Street Tree House" was recently published by Nippon Shogakukan. The Taiwan Cultural Center of the Ministry of Culture in Japan specially invited Ho Chi-ho and Japanese heavyweight literary critic Saburo Kawamoto to have a conversation on the topic of "Wandering through an unseen Taipei". Starting from literature and urban writing, they will share their memories and city scenery of Taipei.
He Zhihe is currently an associate professor at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Literary Creation at the National Taipei University of the Arts. He has been engaged in novel creation for many years. His works have won recognition from the Taiwan Literary Award, the United Press Literary Award, and the Taiwan Literary Golden Classic Award.
The creative inspiration for "Flower Street Tree House" is closely related to He Zhihe's experience growing up in Wanhua, Taipei. The novel describes three teenagers who grew up next to the night market and flower street. They left a common memory due to an adventure to rescue an imprisoned orangutan. Many years later, one of his friends passes away, and the protagonist retraces this almost forgotten past and explores the meaning of memory, life and freedom.
The Japanese version of "Flower Street Tree House", "Memory of Memory", was translated by Miura Yuko, who has been engaged in translating Taiwanese literature for a long time and won the Japan Translation Grand Prize for Yang Shuangzi's "Taiwan Travels".
During the discussion, He Zhihe started from the creation process of "Flower Street Tree House" and shared how to transform his memories of growing up in Wanhua into novels. He mentioned that the protagonist and his parents in the story originally did not agree with the living environment they lived in, so the "treehouse" symbolized the desire to look into the distance and leave the present.
He Zhihe said that Taiwanese society is changing rapidly, and people often do not notice it when they are growing up. It is not until many years later that they discover that the familiar things and landscapes in their childhood have gradually disappeared, and their identification with their hometown has also changed. Places that I didn't agree with in the past are now nostalgic, fond of, and hope to retain their original appearance. Therefore, he re-presents and preserves these fading memories and landscapes through novels.
He Zhihe also shared that the orangutan that appeared in the novel did exist when he was a boy, but he was still young at the time and he and his partners were unable to save it. Many years later, he transformed this memory into the plot of the novel. He also recalled the scenes of snake killings and snake fights by snake traders on Huaxi Street in the 1980s, presenting the unique urban style of Wanhua at that time.
Saburo Kawamoto is a representative literary critic in Japan. He has been active in the fields of literature and film criticism for many years and has won many important Japanese literary and criticism awards. Saburo Kawamoto was deeply impressed by "Flower Street Tree House" 10 years ago and has been looking forward to the Japanese version. This time, his long-awaited expectations have finally come true.
Talking about Wanhua written by He Zhihe, Kawamoto said that he visited the area about 10 years ago. Although Wanhua had been modernized at that time, some alleys still retained a nostalgic atmosphere, which reminded him of the urban scenery in the movie "Monga".
Kawamoto further talked about cities and identity from "memory". He pointed out that in addition to personal experiences, people's memories also include "nostalgia" for disappearing scenes. Due to the rapid urban changes in Tokyo, old buildings and living scenery are constantly disappearing. Therefore, people often look for the home of their memories through nostalgia for the Showa era.
In contrast, Kawamoto said that the historical districts of Kyoto are still integrated into daily life. For Kyoto, which has a long history, the Showa era is just a period in a long history and may not be particularly regarded as an era that needs to be "missed". Taiwan is also experiencing rapid urban changes, so people will also rethink "who we are" in the gradually disappearing landscape, and find their own identity through memory and nostalgia. (Editor: Yang Shengru) 1150905
