The tumultuous recent history of Taiwan surprisingly gave the islands unusually diverse cultures. People immigrated to Taiwan for all kinds of reasons, from missionaries sent to pass on their gospels, businessmen developing new markets, workers seeking bigger money, to refugees running from wars or dissidents looking for asylum. Thus memories of the lost past are a motif of Taiwanese literature and a powerful approach for writers to deal with issues inconvenient to confront face to face. These issues include regime transfer, political oppression, faiths, sexuality, family values, urbanization, fantasies, misunderstanding, cultural clashes and discrimination.
Colonialism and poverty are still living experiences and simultaneously memories to many Taiwanese. In literary works, the (dis)continuation of tradition and values are the ever present focus. In these four stories, the authors have successfully woven layers of messages through intriguing plots, characters and metaphors. With extraordinary artistry, they (re)present elaborate human natures.
These are the stories of ordinary people who refuse to succumb to hardship or inequality. They are unsinkable Taiwanese.
