內容簡介
內容簡介 台灣首部史詩級大河劇《斯卡羅》原著小說《傀儡花》英文版《島嶼DNA》作者陳耀昌繼《福爾摩沙三族記》又一部台灣史小說力作墾丁海岸曾是喋血海岸。美國海軍曾嘗試登陸，但被「斯卡羅族」打敗。美國領事曾與「瑯嶠十八社總頭目」簽署國際條約。1867年的這些史實，牽動了台灣的命運。1867年發生於墾丁海邊的「羅妹號事件」，是近代台灣史蝶翅的第一次拍動，拍出了1874年日本人的「出兵台灣」（牡丹社事件），又接續拍出了1875年沈葆楨的「開山撫番」，拍出了1885年「台灣建省」，更拍出了1895至1945，五十年的「日治時代」。《傀儡花》重現了真實的時空、事件與人物，有史實依據，也有虛構成分。小說家藉由想像和推理，在幾個看似孤立的歷史事件之間找到了鏈結，從而串接起當下與過往的情感紐帶。小說描述發生在一八六七年台灣恆春半島的故事，故事中的事件史有明文，人物則有九成是確有其人。傀儡花指的是女主角潘蝶妹，為客家人父親和嘉禮番公主的混血女兒，但因傳言訛誤，誤讀為傀儡番，才被稱為傀儡花。故事從美國一艘羅妹號發生船難起始，船上十多人改乘小船來到恆春半島，遭生番誤殺，引發美國和大清國之間的緊張關係。美國駐廈門公使李讓禮奉命前來調查此事，因為語言、風俗和之前台灣原住民對西方人的芥蒂，使得雙方劍拔弩張，眼看戰火即將引爆……船堅炮利的美國大軍對上各自為政的台灣原住民，後者鐵定難以抵擋。為了大局著想，斯卡羅族頭目卓杞篤臨危受命，負起團結禦侮和折衝尊俎的使命，不卑不亢的化解了這場危機。作者飽讀史料，融會貫通，虛實相雜，又順理成章，讓人彷彿親歷現場，活在當年，看到那時台灣各方人馬（包括福佬、客家、生番、熟番、混血土生仔、清國官僚、外國使節、傳教士等等）彼此的算計，叫人一讀心驚，再讀心寒，三讀心酸。本中文書介出自《傀儡花》印刻文學生活雜誌出版股份有限公司出版In 1867, an American merchant ship, the Rover, sank off the coast of southern Taiwan. Fourteen sailors reached the shore, where almost all were killed by indigenous people. In retaliation, the United States launched two disastrous military operations against local tribes. Eventually, the U.S. consul to Amoy, Charles Le Gendre, negotiated a treaty with Tauketok, the chief of the eighteen tribes of the area, that secured safe passage for shipwrecked sailors.Yao-Chang Chen’s historical novel Puppet Flower retells the story of the Rover incident, bringing to light its pivotal role in Taiwanese history. Merging documented events and literary imagination, the novel vividly depicts Tauketok, Le Gendre, and other historical figures alongside the story of Butterfly, a young woman of mixed ethnic heritage who serves as an interpreter and mediator during the crisis. Chen deftly reconstructs the multiethnic and multilingual society of southern Taiwan in the second half of the nineteenth century from multiple perspectives, portraying local people’s daily struggles for survival and their interactions with Han Chinese settlers, Qing dynasty bureaucrats, and Western officials, tradesmen, and adventurers. The novel explores nineteenth-century Sino-American and Sino-indigenous relations and emphasizes the centrality of Taiwanese indigenous cultures to the island’s history.A gripping work of historical fiction, Puppet Flower is a powerful revisionist narrative of a formative moment in Taiwan’s past. It was recently adapted into a popular Taiwanese TV miniseries, Seqalu: Formosa 1867."
