A History of Taiwan Literature, by Ye Shitao, an important public intellectual in Taiwan, is arguably one of the most important intellectual works of literary history. This translation is a most important resource for those interested in the intellectual history of East Asia, world literature, and Taiwan studies.

This collection is the first volume in English to examine the entire span of modern Taiwanese literature, from the first decades of the twentieth century to the present.

This sourcebook contains more than 160 documents and writings that reflect the development of Taiwanese literature from the early modern period to the twenty-first century. Selections include seminal essays in literary debates, polemics, and other landmark events; interviews, diaries, and letters by major authors; critical and retrospective essays by influential writers, editors, and scholars; transcripts of historical speeches and conferences; literary-society manifestos and inaugural journal prefaces; and governmental policy pronouncements that have significantly influenced Taiwanese literature. These texts illuminate AsiaÕs experience with modernization, colonialism, and postcolonialism; the character of TaiwanÕs Cold War and postÐCold War cultural production; gender and environmental issues; indigenous movements; and the changes and challenges of the digital revolution. TaiwanÕs complex history with Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese colonization; strategic geopolitical position vis-ˆ-vis China, Japan, and the United States; and status as a hub for the East-bound circulation of technological and popular-culture trends make the nation an excellent case study for a richer understanding of East Asian and modern global relations.

The six stories in this collection are representative works from the mature period and the war period. Each story depicts different hardships and predicaments faced by Taiwan as a colony under Japanese rule, offering insight into how this part of Taiwan's history continues to impact contemporary Taiwanese society.

This book provides a refreshing and comprehensive analysis on colonial Taiwanese literature. It accentuates its thematic and stylistic richness, challenges the reductive “collaboration-resistance” binary, and calls for a multifaceted literary commonwealth.

Yeh Shih-t'ao (1925-2008) was an outstanding Taiwanese novelist, literary critic and historian of Taiwan literature. In the history of the development of contemporary Taiwan literature he occupies an incomparably important position. As a literary historian, Yeh's magnum opus is An Outline History of Taiwan Literature (hereafter Outline). It is a comprehensive account that treats the subject of Taiwan literature from the perspective of Taiwan. Although it is only an outline, the book has very special significance in the history of Taiwan literature. 葉石濤（1925-2008）是台灣傑出的小説家、文學批評家、和台灣文學史家，在近代台灣文學發展史上具有無比重要的地位。作爲文學史家，他的巨著當推《台灣文學史綱》。這是以台灣的觀點所闡述的第一本通史。雖然只是綱要，這本書在台灣文學史上，具有特殊的意義，主要在於以台灣人的觀點詮釋台灣文學的歷史發展。