Constructing “Taiwan” Literature:
The Appropriation and Adaptation of Hippolyte Taine’s Theory and Its Meanings in Taiwan Literary Criticism during the Japanese Colonial Era

   While much has been written on Taiwan’s literature under Japanese rule, studies on its literary criticism are comparatively neglected Therefore, this article aims to trace the development of literary criticism in pre-war Taiwan and point the way to a new field. This paper focuses on the literary critical projects which adopted and adapted Hippolyte Taine’s theory of literary criticism, including Ye Rong-zhong’s “the Third Literature,” Wu Yongfu’s discussion of literary creation, Liu Jie and Li Xian-zhang’s research on folk literature, Huang De-shi’s construction of Taiwan literary history, and Shimada Kinji’s criticism and rewriting of Taine’s theories as a lecturer of Taipei Imperial University. This paper argues that the main reasons for the popularity of Taine’s theory in colonial Taiwan were that it fulfilled the local-desiderata of establishing a scientific approach for literary criticism and also that Taine’s focuses on race, milieu, and moment fitted well with Taiwanese critics who were enthusiastic about the projects of discovering Taiwan’s uniqueness and constructing a national literature.