Great Taiwanese Novelist Lee Chiao Spied on by KMT for 14 Years | Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan Lee Chiao Literature Association (臺灣 李喬文 å­¸ 協會) recently celebrated its fourth founding anniversary and is now behind an initiative to have the writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature.

Lee Chiao (李 å–¬) is widely regarded as one of the country’s great contemporary novelists, with some of his best novels translated and published in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Czech.

The 87-year-old Taiwanese writer has published 16 short novels, 11 long novels and seven theses. His long, realistic novels mainly followed after he retired as a high school teacher and was praised for the clever implementation of a flow of consciousness narrative.

Lee has written about the struggles of the underprivileged and his political fiction has exposed a dark side of politics, like the book “Informants.” Unsurprisingly, his works made those in power uncomfortable.

Lee was on the Kuomintang’s (KMT) watchlist for intellectuals during the “White Terror” period of martial law. Decades later, in 2019, the Transitional Justice Commission (TJC) revealed that Lee had been spied on for up to 14 years and had been beset by accusations that his speeches and works were subversive.

Despite the accusations, his fame in Taiwanese literature prevailed. His historical novels included the “Cold Night Trilogy” (寒夜 三部曲) from “Wintry Night” (寒夜), “Abandoned Village” (荒村) and “Sole Lamp” (孤燈), which were subsequently printed in English. One of his most famous works, “The Spring of Lan Caixia” (藍 彩霞 çš„ 春天), was on the shelves of several bookstores in Spain and Japan, in their localized languages ​​section.

Taiwanese Literature Association Chairman Lee Chiao Dr Chen Kuei-hsien (陳貴賢), who also heads the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences at Academia Sinica, recently told Taiwan News that the organization is bringing together Lee’s masterpieces in “Complete Works of Lee Chiao” (李 å–¬ 全集), with the support of the Cabinet-level Hakka Business Council, to preserve his legacy for future generations.

National Taiwan University professor Huang Mei-er (黃美娥) is the editor of this massive work. The all-academic team gathered on August 28 for an editorial meeting, when joined by Lee himself, at the new San-Chuen-Shuei Literary Foundation (山 泉水 文學 基地) in Miaoli County. , and by Satoshi Aketagawa (明 田 川 聡 士) from Dokkyo University of Japan, who attended remotely.

An editorial meeting for the “Collected Works of Lee Chiao” was called on August 28. (Photo by Chen Keui-hsien)

The meeting was chaired by Chen Kuei-hsien and in the presence (photo above) of Professor NTHU Chen Welin (陳惠 齡), Professor NDHU Yang Tsui (楊 翠), Professor NUU Lee Su-ting (李舒亭), Professor NKNU Tan Yu-li (唐毓麗), Dr Liu Hui-chen (劉慧 真), Professor NUU Huang Hui-chen (黃 惠 禎), Professor NYCU Chiang Shu-chen (蔣淑貞) and Professor Satoshi Aketagawa (明 田 川 聡 士) from Japanese Dokkyo University.

Chen hailed Lee as one of the country’s most productive writers, whose works include novels, prose, poetry, plays, commentaries and essays – a total of over 12 million. words. The “Complete Works of Lee Chiao” will be divided into six sections and 45 volumes, and are expected to be completed in two years.

In Taiwan, Lee is widely recognized as the most deserving writer for a Nobel Prize in Literature. The independence master has dedicated his life to promoting democracy and educational reform.

Lee Chiao (third from right, first row) with the editors of the upcoming “Complete Works of Lee Chiao”. (Photo by Chen Keui-hsien)

You can find more information about the San-Chuen-Shuei Literary Foundation at https://sites.google.com/view/leechiao