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This thesis attempts to contextualize Yan-Xun Zhang’s life and his literary history by examining the intertwinement of his historical records and works. With an ambition to provide a comprehensive perspective to Zhang’s literary life, this thesis will also discuss the relationship between Zhang’s poetry and novel by re-examining the characteristics of Zhang’s literary works.
Looking at the past research on Yan-Xun Zhang, there are only a few monographs on the comprehensive review of his life history and literary process. Thus, the research goal of this thesis is to arrange and analyze Zhang's literary activities in three different periods and to discuss the important subjects and literary expression in his works. The three main chapters of this thesis will be divided by Zhang’s literary activities in the three periods: the 1940s, the 1960s to the 1970s, and the 1980s to the 1990s; each chapter will also focus on Zhang’s literary style and expression performed in different periods.
The second chapter of this thesis begins with the activities of the "Yin-Lin Association." Discussing the process of leading the association to become an active literary organization in the northern and central Taiwan in 1945-1949, this chapter will examine Zhang’s romantic yet realistic literary performance at that time. Under the language and political struggle in the 1950s, Zhang left hundreds of works written in Chinese during the 1960s to the 1970s. The third chapter thus focuses on Zhang’s attention to various subjects after he returned to the literary world in 1959 and explores his literary expression reflected in his works. Last, the fourth chapter illustrates how Zhang echoed the spirit of the local literary and artistic community during the rise of Taiwanese identity in the 1980s. With the spirit of romance and realism cultivated in the 1940s, Zhang returned to the ranks of novelists and poets as a domestic realism writer and once again reached a new peak of his creative life.
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