【Reading Notes】Writing the memories of life in Taiwan's rural areas full of local flavor - "Danma Cao Shui"

The gongs and drums were loud and incense was burning in the air. In the annual incense array, Li Xinben, a young man, carried a pole and offered grass water to the mounts of the heavenly soldiers and generals. The young boy with the magic weapon and the most devout believers left a trace of blood in the ambiguous memory that could not be erased, such as the winding streets beside the temple...

As the books on the market become more and more diverse, writing about Taiwan has gradually become the subject matter of many writers. Among the works I have read in the past, "The Electric Walker", which sees life at the bottom of the society with innocent eyes, and "It Never Snows in the South" that advertises a "Southern Perspective", and even "New God", which discusses beliefs, are all Impressive work. However, "Danma Cao Shui" written by the writer Jiang Tianlu has a completely different style from the former. Although the novel is still as exciting, it exudes a stronger local flavor.

"Danma Caoshui" is named after the custom of repaying vows in traditional beliefs. It also includes a short story of the same name and the 2019 Lin Rongsan Literature Award winning novel "Danma Caushui", a total of 9 novels. The protagonists of these novels include teachers from remote villages, father and son of duck farmers who are struggling with life, officers on outlying islands during the confrontation between the two sides of the strait, little people struggling to survive in the city, and even caregivers of long-term care families. In the same way, these fictitious stories have combined the appearance of real Taiwanese society.

The sense of realism felt by the writing of rural generations

"Weaving feelings into the country" and "depicting scenes with a strong sense of picture to capture the complex emotions during the wandering" are the praises of the author's words on the waist of the book, but as a reader, the most profound feeling may be the strong feeling in it. of "realism". Including the use of words and words, and the depiction of traditional farmhouse and temple fair culture, the author's strength is that in the process of reading, readers will feel that they are reading "memory". Compared with other writers, who use "observation" (as the reader's feeling) to construct the content structure of the story, Jiang Tianlu's words make it easier for people to believe that he has indeed experienced such a life and has been immersed in such a cultural atmosphere for a long time. middle.

Ordinary people's novels based on customs and traditional beliefs

There are a lot of elements of traditional beliefs in "Dan the Horse and Grass Water". Among these stories based on Taiwan's rural society, the only "Xiao Ya" that is close to science fiction is hard to ignore. especially catch the reader's attention. The background is set in the future. Taiwanese society will use the technology product "smart people" to help long-term care families take care of the elderly at home, but at the same time, due to the improper treatment of the care recipients, a mixture of "fraud groups" and "trade unions" has been derived. mysterious organization. While presenting the social issues of long-term care through science fiction, "Xiao Ya" also shows the author's rich imagination and creative potential.

Novels can artistically express personal observations and feelings about life, enough to carry a variety of themes, especially those inconvenient and obscure life situations - we will always encounter it a few times and become a knot in our hearts - I am used to hiding these In the novel, it is like a puzzle, which is left to the reader to feel and interpret. ——Jiang Tianlu, author of "Danma Grass Water"

After experiencing a chilling social atmosphere, a biased language policy, and the threshold for education in the past, a certain part of Taiwan's society has always been in the stage of "silence", or can only appear in front of mainstream society through other people's records and translations. . What "Danma Cao Shui" represents is that generation and group of people who are rarely able to tell the stories that truly belong to them, and therefore more worthy of being savored.

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