Eileen Chen 1100200182
Aiden Yeh
Research Writing
March 17, 2015
Realistic Fairy Tale: Seba’s Concept of Love
Compared with popular literature, belles-lettres is the artistic literary work. What
about popular literature? Chun-Ming Hung (黃春明) mentions that literature derives
from life (“Liberty Time Net”). Not only belles-lettres but also popular literature
reflects life, humanity and emotion. By the same token, romance novels are usually
considered as female’s reflection of mind. When it comes to romance novels in
Taiwan, most people will regard Qiong-Yao (瓊瑤) as the pioneer. Her splendid words
construct a fantastic world in her books. Most of her novels are adapted into movies
and television drama serials, such as Outside the Window (窗外) and Misty Drizzle
(煙雨濛濛). Because of Qiong-Yao’s success, Qiong-Yao’s romances were equal to
female’s fairy tale when her first work was published. Without a doubt, the fairy tale
of Qiong-Yao’s style caused a stir in Taiwan and other countries around Asia. How so?
Say what kind of ‘stir’ she caused. According to one website, her success brings about
a batch of new romance writers (name a few). The embryo of Taiwanese romance was
thus shaped up in 1990 (“Wikipedia”).
If Qiong-Yao is the heroine making an epoch, the rise of the Internet will be
viewed as a new epoch creating many successful writers. More than a decade ago, the
Internet has not been as prevalent as recent years. The earliest approach that people
could post their novels was Bulletin Board System, which is often called BBS for
short. Nowadays, everyone can spend more time sharing his or her stories on their
own blogs or community websites owing to the prevalence of computers and Internet;
that is to say, everyone can become a writer on the Internet at present. It makes these
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new Internet writers’ quality extremely uneven, but the evolution attracts people to do
correlational studies (Reference). With reference to romance, Hsun-Hsi Liu (劉薰禧)
introduces the topics about Taiwanese romance novels in her thesis. Besides,
Chen-Ming Hsu (許哲銘) analyzes the politic of feminine body in the romance novels.
Moreover, Tsui-Lin Fan (范翠玲) chooses one famous writer, Hsi-Chuan (席绢), to
examine the development of romance novels.
However, generally speaking, the value of popular literature is still relatively
ignored because sharing and publishing one’s own articles become much simpler than
the past. Because of the convenience of the Internet, writers can run their own social
website to interact with their readers. Even though the writers do not send their works
to the press, they still print their works privately and sell the book to their readers.
Romance novels are a product satisfying female readers’ curiosity and imagination,
but in fact, all kinds of novels can be also regarded as writers’ emotional expression.
For example, the famous American novelist, Alice Sebold, was raped by a stranger.
Her novels, Lucky and The Lovely Bones, both relate to the issue about her trauma.
Besides, Tsai-Ching Ni (倪采青) indicates Qiong-Yao’s first novel, Outside the
Window, was published when she was twenty-five years old. The love story between a
male teacher and a female student derived from Qiong-Yao’s adolescence. When she
was a teenager, the graceful writer fell in love with her teacher. What she could do
was pour out the painful emotion into writing.
There will not be a second Qiong-Yao anymore because the subsequent writers
are followers. Their styles inherit from Qiong-Yao’s works for the sake of the
pioneer’s gigantic impact. But the development of Internet creates a writer called Seba
(蝴蝶). The outstanding writer, Seba, also had an unpleasant experience. Once, she
divorced with her ex-husband. Nevertheless, Seba still fabricates romance. But
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romance novels in Taiwan always end happily; her novels are not purely fairy tales.
Seba is a mid-life female, whose age is forty six years old. Because of Seba’s age and
experience, her romance novels are much more realistic. According to Seba’s pixnet,
her works can be at least divided into following categories: romance, short stories and
fantasy fiction. Seba’s unpleasant experience in her life makes her novels glitter like
pearl. There are three characteristics in Seba’s novels: slightly satires, tender
vicissitudes and tiny fatigue. It is a kind of beauty resembling in the declining sun.
When J.K. Rowling published her novels, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,
she was suffering from the destitute life. Both popular literature and the fresh
electronic literature seem to focus mainly on the entertainment, but the literature
derives from life. Therefore, it will not be strange that belles-lettres exists in the
popular literature as well.
The thesis concentrates on the analysis of Seba’s novels. Spending time on
reading romance is mostly considered as meaningless amusement. Because of the
stereotype, romance novels are apparently viewed as adult fairy tale which plots are
regularly simple. Seba’s article will be compared with other writers’ books to explore
the belles-lettres in the popular literature in details.
The Origin of Taiwanese Romance Novels
A well-known translator of western romance, Ya-Tung Tang (唐亞東), claims the
western romance novels follow the characters of chivalric romance in the medieval
times (“Womany.Net”). The American corporation, Harlequin Enterprises Limited,
publishes the western romance novels and causes a sensation in America and Taiwan.
However, Su-Hsun Liu (劉素勳) indicates the fever of the foreign romance began to
fail because of the rise of copyright in his abstract (II). Because purchasing book right
would burden the publisher with heavy finance, the publishers in Taiwan start to put
money into local romance novels in order to save the costs. The situation brings about
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the development of Taiwanese romance novels indirectly. Owing to the urgent market
demand, Zen-Hua-Si-Ming (簪花司命) addresses a novice is also qualified to get five
thousand dollars royalty income at that time (“shanshan613.xuite”).
The prosperity of Taiwanese romance novels can be ascribed to the exit of the
western romance, Qiong Yao’s success and the rise of Internet. However, Taiwanese
romance stories should be traced back to the ancient period. Ming Yang (楊明) shows
the forms of Chinese love stories are not the same in different dynasties, but these
plots mainly focus on the gifted couples, such as those in Chin-Ping-Mei (金瓶梅) in
the Ming Dynasty and Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢) in the Ching Dynasty (15).
The kind of romance novels about talented male and beautiful female have a great
impact on the l’école des canards mandarins et des papillons (鴛鴦蝴蝶派) (18). The
direct translation of the school in English means the mandarin duck and butterfly. In
China, both mardarin ducks and butterfly are love symbol. In other words, l’école des
canards mandarins et des papillons around 1950 inherits the characters of ancient
Chinese romance about talented couples.
At that time, the definition of romance novels is obscure. Eileen Chang (張愛玲)
was categorized into l’école des canards mandarins et des papillons because her
novels exists the factor, love. Not until Harlequin Enterprises Limited invests in the
business of romance novels can the definition of Taiwanese romance be clarified.
Ming Yang indicates the development of Taiwan romance business copies the
development of novels publishing by Harlequin Enterprise Limited extensively (22).
According to one website, the reason about popular literature in Taiwan became to
flourish because the martial law was lifted in 1987 (“Taiwanese Literature”). Based
on ideological emancipation, Taiwan makes a great stride on culture and literature.
Relatively speaking, romance novels in Taiwan developed earlier than China.
Owing to the impact of western romance novels, there are approximately one hundred
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thousand words in a Taiwanese romance novel. The short romance story is both
advantaged and disadvantaged. Readers will not spend too much time on reading
single books. However, writers have to spend more time on fabricating plots in order
to establish an individual style because a splendid short story tests a writer’s ability
(add reference). Hsi-Chuan (席绢), Yu-Ching (于晴), Chen-Ya (沈亞), Ju-Shin Lin
(林如是) are called four queens of romance novels (says who?). The four queens’
works were published in China as privacy edition. Even though their books were the
illegal copies, Taiwanese romance novels still caused a stir in China. According to
Hongxiu, because creating popular literature is much more uncomplicated, numerous
students in the senior high schools and universities start to write romance novels. As a
result, there are four little queens of romance appearing in China. The four little
queens in China are respectably Teng-Ping (藤萍), Fei-Wo-Ssu-Tsun (匪我思存),
Tung-Hua (桐華) and Mei-Yu-Che (寐語者) –name your reference. The rise of
Internet causes the electronic literature both in Taiwan and China incomplete
sentence- causes what?.
Without a doubt, there are renowned Internet writers in Taiwan, such as Giddens
(九把刀) and Seba. However, considerate Internet writers in China start to create
novels. The rise of electronic literature in China poses a severe menace to the writers
and the presses in Taiwan. Again, the publication companies choose substantial
inexpensive manuscripts for the sake of saving cost (how did you know? Add a
reference). And, web novels from China are obviously a short cut to go. It seems
beneficial for the presses and readers that they have more choices on novels.
Nevertheless, investing in foreign novels and ignoring local books will be detrimental
for the extended development of the publications in Taiwan in the future- how did you
know?. Solving the predicament will be an important issue for the whole country.
The Typical Characters of Taiwanese Romance Novels
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Because Qiong-Yao’s impact on Taiwanese romance novels is too enormous, the
newcomers’ works will be affected by the pioneer subconsciously. According to
Tsai-Ching Ni’s description in Becoming a Best Selling Novelist, the heroine set by
Qiong-Yao always looks like an angel with innocent eyes and long hairs (38). The
newcomers cannot escape from Qiong-Yao’s influence. Besides, the publications in
Taiwan have only accepted similar novels for a long time. For example, Yen-Da Lu
indicates time-travel fiction occupies the rank in the book rental because of Scarlet
Heart (步步驚心) (3). This time-travel fiction is so popular that it is also adapted into
television drama serial. The writer of Scarlet Heart is one of the four little queens
whose name is Tung-Hua. At present, not only the imaginary characters but also the
content of story is shaped up. In the Internet, internet user will even analyze the
clichéd formula of the Taiwanese romance novels.
In Ming Yang’s research, the researcher points out heroes in the romance novels
are handsome and rich no matter what background the writers set (98). In Tsui-Lin
Fan’s thesis, she quotes Hsi-Chuan’s sentence. Hsi-Chuan also admits her main
characters have good visage (34). From this statement, main characters with amazing
appearance have been a regular setting.
In Becoming a Best-Selling Novelist, Tsai-Ching Ni narrates the setting about the
main character’s appearance and personality. Heroine is a container where the reader’s
consciousness’s exists (295). Hero has to become the container what the readers
perhaps appreciates. The analysis is not absolutely correct. For instance, Qiong-Yao
creates a Princess Pearl (還珠格格) as an exception in the later period. Even though
Princess Pearl is one of the loyal members, she does not like to learn the troublesome
etiquettes and study the difficult literature.
The Research Method on Seba’s Novels
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The definition of romance novels is obscure. In the past, the novels inclusive of
love could be called romance. That is, l’école des canards mandarins et des papillons
would be the reason why the sect is considered as the bellwether of romance.
However, if romance novels were explained beyond the vague definition, the kind of
novels, as much as female pastime, actually could be begun from masculine writers.
Such as D. H. Lawrence, even though the plots of his novels were not accepted by the
mass population, his emotional depictions are also quite exquisite.
Because of gender differences, female writers’ emergences are comparatively
later than male writers(add a reference). Nevertheless, when the female writers started
to stand out conspicuously, their abilities would not be ignored. The deliberate
classical literature has an immense impact on the pioneer, Qiong Yao,‘s works. One of
remarkable examples is You Can’t Tell Him (庭院深深). The structure and setting in
You Can’t Tell Him is similar to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The two novels are
composed of overlapping factors, such as dignified heroine, blind hero and mountain
villa. Even if romance novels are in the delimitation of popular literature, popular
literature still can be influenced by belles-lettres. Furthermore, romance novels also
can describe a panoramic view or prevalent tendency during a fleeting but specific
period.
The reason making Seba’s works unique concentrates on the element, actuality.
In order to maintain the externally romantic sugar coat, romance novels will omit part
of negative realistic factors, such as divorce or family conflicts. However, Seba
abandons these extrinsic fantasies and puts alleged hideous reality, such as
inharmonious family relationship, in her books with boldness and in details.
In fact, Seba cannot be considered as the complete romance novelist. The
classifications of her novels are widespread, such as fantasy literature, horror fiction
and time-travel fiction. But these species also exists the factor of romance. Seba
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confesses that every single novel is a part of jigsaw. When the jigsaw is put together,
there is a fantasy existing in her books.
Seba’s writing focuses on fantasy literature. Therefore, the choices of her fantasy
literature would be The City of Phantom (幻影都城), the Incantatory Sorcerer (禁咒
師), Shu-Chi’s Haunted Files (舒祈的靈異檔案夾) and Shang-Yeh (上邪). The
choices of horror fiction would be Yeh-Shu Yao (姚夜書) and Flower Monster (妖花).
The choices of her short stores The Star Stories without Love (星座非愛情物語),
Favorite (最愛) and A Female Internet Writer’s Death (網路女作家之死). The
chosen romance novels are I Love Lucifer (我愛路西法), I am a Yasha, not a Ugly
Dinosaur (我是夜叉，不是恐龍) and Dear Queen (親愛的女王陛下).
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Work Cited
Wang, Yang-Yu. “Chun-Ming Hung’s Interest Speech: Literature Derives from Life.”
Ltn.com. Liberty Time Net, 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.
“Romance Novels.” Wikipedia, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Liu, Hsun-Hsi. “An Analysis and Creation the Illustration of Domestic Romance
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Print.
Hsu, Chen-Ming. “The politics of woman’s body in the romance novel---Comparative
Qiong-Yao romance fiction and 90’s romance fiction.” Diss. Nanhua U, 2003.
Print.
Fan, Tsui-Lin. “Research on Hsi-Chuan’s Novels and Sensation.” Diss. Tunghai U,
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“Romance Novels.” Wikipedia, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Ni, Tsai-Ching. “The Secret of the Best-Selling First Books.” Rosenovel Pixnet, 7
Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.
Tang, Ya-Tung. “Make Reading More Romantic: The Brief Introduction of Romance
Novels.” Womany.Net. Womany.Net, 4 July 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.
Liu, Su-Hsun. “The Translation/Mutation of Romantic Love: An Exploration of the
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Web. 8 Nov. 2014.
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Ni, Tsai-Ching. “Characters.”
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