Democracy Detoured and a Narrator Detached in the Political Fiction of Lai Xiangyin

This chapter will explore the various layers Lai Xiangyin (Lai Hsiang-yin 賴香吟) portrays in her collection of short stories entitled The Translator (翻譯者) that maps out several turning points in the post-martial law era. These stories are listed mainly in chronological order and divided into four series, the first dealing with the progression that emerged after martial law was lifted, and the second the frustrations of the reform process. Series three moves away from the democracy movement in Taipei to the perspective of Tainan, an ancient city in south Taiwan. The fourth series offers a metanarrative to Lai’s fictions as well as a historiography of our time. Lai’s texts offer inspiring observations on Taiwan’s democratic movement: the history of the transition from authoritarianism to democracy; the history and internal conflicts of the opposition movement; and how the period looks when viewed from a different geographical vantage point. Most importantly, they show how literature, when done right, preserves time, and how a novelist can come to represent historical “truth.”