Telling Tales: Tradition and Historiography in Taiwanese Comics
A wizard rescues a student abducted by ruffians in Japanese-occupied Taipei. Two boys come of age on a fishing trawler in the post-war years only to suffer a traumatic and life-changing loss. The goddess Matsu comes to Earth in the form of a young girl, but doesn't seem to remember who she is anymore. Two students head to a rural mountain village to conduct ethnographic research and sort out their feelings for one another. A would-be pop diva has a second shot at fame. These are just a few of the stories being told with comics in Taiwan today.
Compared to Japanese manga, Taiwanese comics and cartoons (known in Mandarin as manhua) are almost completely unknown in the English-speaking world. Over the last three years, however, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China has sponsored the ground-breaking Books from Taiwan initiative to translate a juried selection of these works into English. Join us to learn more about the wild world of Taiwanese comics!
Speaker
Nick Stember is a translator and historian of Chinese comics and science fiction. In 2016 he completed his Master of Arts in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia with his thesis on the formation of the Shanghai Manhua Society in the mid-1920s. He is the translation editor of Ricepaper Magazine and commissioning editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel.
Date
Friday, October 27, 2017
Time
11:00 am
Place
SFU Harbour Centre
515 W. Hastings, Vancouver
2270 Sauder Industries Policy Room
Please register here
Co-organizers
- David See-chai Lam Centre
- Taiwan Studies Group
- Department of History