River of Mud
Chen Yeh (1959-2011), aka Chen Chun-hsiu, was a native of Tainan, Taiwan. River of Mud narrates the three-generation saga of the Lin family of Tainan. From the Japanese Colonial Period through to the postwar era, the book’s protagonists experience the tumultuous flow of history and several of Taiwan’s seminal historic turning points. Published in 1989 just as Taiwan finished disassembling Martial Law restrictions, it was one of the first works of literature to directly address the so-called February 28th (228) Incident and the ensuing years of White Terror.
1989; Independence Evening Post, Taipei; book; NMTL collection