05.01.2024

Lecture: LIN Shu-hui, "Discourses in Taiwan Travel Literature during the Cold War Era"

On Jan 11, 2024, Prof. LIN Shu-hui from National Taiwan Normal University will hold a lecture on "Discourses in Taiwan Travel Literature during the Cold War Era"

Prof. Lin Shu-Hui 林淑慧 from the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University, currently staying at the ERCCT as a Visiting Scholar, will hold a public lecture on Thursday, January 11, at 6 p.m. (Venue is room no. 1.81 at Keplerstraße 2). Her topic is

Discourses in Taiwan Travel Literature during the Cold War Era

Traveling abroad is one of the ways to understand the self and the world. This talk uses travelogues during the period of the Cold War Era in Taiwan as the research material. It compares the academic experience of writers of various identities, their motivations, and goals for the overseas trip, and explores the commonality and particularity of their moving memory. In terms of travelogues to the United States, the opportunity to travel abroad during the martial law period was limited, but some writers still had special cultural capital to travel far and published travelogues. For example, International Visitor Programs are mostly discourses about visiting the United States in the context of the Cold War, often implying observations and imaginations of the free world. Most of them compare overseas experiences with the domestic ones. Through the experience of observing world culture, they hope to shape a more ideal society and inspire the idea of reforming Taiwan. The choice of travel routes has become a medium for understanding overseas societies, and travelogues represent the weaving and reorganizing of moving memories. The characteristics of travel narratology are presented in aspects of the location, the capital of travelers, the emotional structure under the context of the times, and representational space. GIS tools are used to visualize text layers. Travelers explore the deep meaning of life between leaving and returning.