A War at Heart: War Memory and the Friendship Between Taiwan and Korea in Hsiao Chin Tui The Doll of Fate

Abstract

This paper aims to explore Taiwanese people’s memories of war based on Hsiao Chin Tui’s novel The Doll of Fate which describes the later period when Japan colonized Taiwan and the youth of Taiwan serve in the military voluntarily. The voluntary is not only influenced by kominka movement, but also is the effect of Japan’s war discourse of protecting Asia from the fight of Western countries. However, no matter in schools or society, discrimination in colony leads youth’s anger and forms an invisible power of the discourse of anti-war. Youth in Taiwan gradually doubt of the war idea of Japan, including the fear of death. In this paper, I define the situation as “the war of heart”. This paper focuses on the changing of character’s mind and spirit. This paper also observes the changing process of the identification of race and mother land. The observation will be a basis to think about the historical meaning of war experience of mobilization and memories of Taiwanese people during the colonial period by Japan.