Black humor in the Japanese-Language Literature :Huang Ling-Zhi in Post-War Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the significance of literature written by the Japanese Language Generation in post-war Taiwan. This paper identifies the linguistic views and characteristics of the novels of Huang Ling-Zhi (1928-2016), who continued writing literary works in Japanese for more than sixty years in post-war Taiwan. Huang Ling-Zhi is a typical author of the Japanese Language Generation in Taiwan. He argues that writers are “subjects” who select and use the language most suitable for the theme of their work. His point of view about language does deconstruct linguistic nationalism. In Huang Ling- Zhi’s novels, the main characters meet unfortunate ends, but since a person’s unique thinking is given full expression, they are not tragedies, but forms of tragicomedies. The black humor of Huang Ling-Zhi’s novels is thought to be the product of Taiwan’s continued history of hardships before and after the war, and Huang Ling-Zhi’s own extreme circumstances due to illness. His novels are valuable material for Taiwanese history. In addition, the result of using black humor is that a major hallmark of his writing is the acquisition of a wider readership, which is not limited to those becoming fascinated by the Taiwanese setting.

Keywords

• Huang Ling-Zhi
• The Japanese Language Generation in Taiwan
• Black humor
• Japanese-Language Literature
• Utopia