殖民地臺灣出版業的誕生：思想戰與「國民／島民公共領域」的結構轉型

Abstract

出版活動隨著戰爭爆發而自然衰退為臺灣出版史的常識，然而思想戰下的出版市場實為另一種火熱的企劃戰場：讀者熱情消費，作者出書完夢，業者忙著為稿奔走。戰爭時期的出版市場如何以及為何如此發展？本文透過出版市場的經濟分析以及思想戰的動員理論，「國民公共領域」的結構轉型，主張戰爭陰影下不降反升的出版景氣。殖民地臺灣的出版市場不只以「國民公共領域」的不完全轉型為基礎，迎來動員／爭奪「國民大眾」的活躍生機，更育成臺灣第一代本土出版業，重塑了以「島民大眾」為主體的「島民公共領域」。 本文從三個面向論證出版景氣的存在及其成因。一、根據出版市場的統計資料與產業鏈分析，出版生產與消費量並未嚴重衰退，長期由島外流通網絡主導的殖民地依賴型市場，甚至蛻變為具有島內生產中心的自立型市場，即出版業的誕生。二、聚焦官方的出版統制，指出思想戰的動員／爭奪讀者「國民大眾」為跨年齡與性別壁壘的均值「消費大眾」，但在殖民地卻亦指涉異質的「本島人大眾」，因此出版市場得以迎來動員「國民大眾」的自主性膨脹，如民間的創刊與創社潮，卻也無法完全免除針對「不完整國民」的強制性支配，如文藝雜誌統合案。三、聚焦民間的出版活動與統制機構「臺灣出版會」，指出海運條件惡化下，島外流通網絡無法觸及的另一種異質消費群「島民大眾」，為臺灣出版業及其組織自立而起的關鍵動力。這批新興出版業者包括臺灣人經營的盛興出版部、清水書店、臺灣藝術社與在臺日人經營的臺灣出版文化株式會社、東都書籍株式會社臺北支店等積極為臺灣讀者量身打造出版企劃，而有別於消極引入內地出版品的老牌販售與經銷業者。而臺灣出版會的統制系統，包括企劃審查、用紙配給與出版物配給，亦脫離單向傾銷殖民地的內地思想戰配置，以強化這個自立型的出版市場為目標。

A commonly held view in the history of publishing in Taiwan is that there was a natural decline in publishing activities following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). However, during this period of total war the publishing market actually became a different kind of battlefield, where readers enthusiastically consumed, writers published their first books, and publishers were busy searching for content to publish. How and why did the publishing market develop like this during the war? Through an economic analysis of the publishing market and the theory of the structural transformation of the “national public sphere” under total war, this thesis argues that, despite being under the shadow of war, the publishing market experienced a boom. Not only did colonial Taiwan’s publishing market, owing to an incomplete structural transformation of the “national public sphere,” prosper as the “national masses” were mobilized, it also gave birth to the first generation of Taiwan’s publishing industry and reshaped the “islander public sphere’’ with “islander masses” at its core. This thesis demonstrates the publishing boom and its cause in three parts. The first part shows that, according to a statistical and industrial chain analysis of the publishing market, the production and consumption of publications did not decline seriously, and the colonial market that had for a long time relied on the circulation network outside Taiwan even transformed into an self-reliant market with a production center based on the island. In other words, a publishing industry was born. The second part focuses on the control of publishing by the authorities, to point out that the “national masses” who made up the target readers mobilized for total war referred to homogenous “consumer masses” without age or gender differences. However, in colonial Taiwan this also meant heterogeneous “Taiwanese masses.” As a result, the publishing market could expand autonomously as “national masses” were mobilized, seen in the wave of newly-established civilian publications and clubs, although it was also hard to avoid compulsory force directed at “incomplete nationals,” as shown by the shutdown of two of the biggest literary magazines in the 1940s. The third part focuses on civilian publishing activities and the controlling institution of the Taiwan Publishing Association, pointing out that due to deteriorating shipping circumstances and the failure of the circulation network outside Taiwan, “islander masses” emerged as a new kind of heterogenous consumer, which became a strong motivation for the establishment of Taiwan’s publishing industry and related institutions. These new publishers, which included Taiwanese and Japanese companies in Taiwan, actively planned publications for readers in Taiwan, which was different from wholesalers and retailers in the past who passively imported publications from Japan. The Taiwan Publishing Association’s system of control, which included the censoring of publishing plans and the allocation of paper and finished goods, focused on strengthening this self-contained market, thereby also running counter to Japan’s arrangements for total war, which saw colonies merely as consumers of Japan’s publishing market.