何謂「日本語文學」？受到後殖民地文學思潮興起之影響，這樣的表現最近多為 研究者引用提及。然而，該怎麼去定義「日本語文學」，這個問題卻始終未被加以重視，使 得「日本語文學」在被迫塵封多年後鋒芒突起，成為另一個特權化的存在。本論文建構於此 問題意識之上，旨於檢討「日本語文學」當中的「日本語」之涵義。論中將就曾被提及為「 日本語文學」的三大類作品，其一是日本統治期間曾經到訪臺灣，以臺灣為題材的日本作家 之作品，其二是當時移居臺灣的日本人作家之作品，其三則是臺灣人作家以日文所寫之作品 ，個別提出其最大特徵，並總結三者之共同點。也就是在上述三大類作品中不約而同地，「 日本語」都是突顯日本與臺灣，換句話說就是殖民統治者與被殖民統治者之間差異的標誌。 這一點，說明了在釋義「日本語文學」時，其受背負的歷史包袱是絕對無法輕描淡寫，一語 帶語的。相反的，無論是取決於哪一個角度來規定「日本語文學」，其本身深陷日本殖民統 治言論圈套的可能性，也是不容忽視的。
What is "Japanese language literature"? Many scholars recently describe this word as a new and important part of post-colonial literatures. But there is less attempt tried to define it exactly so it is notable there is a trend upon that the word is getting authorized against any criticism concerning nationalism like it was done before. To point out the concept above, this paper will make clear the meaning of "Japanese language" within "Japanese language literature" from the following three parts. The first is the works written by Japanese writers who had visited Taiwan temporally during the period of Japanese colonialism. The second is the works written also by Japanese writers but who moved to Taiwan and began their literary work in Taiwan. And the third is the works written by Taiwanese nationals who received a modern Japanese education during the same period. After examining these three parts, this paper will compare with characters of the "Japanese" considered in each one. And it concludes that, whichever we pick over to represent the "Japanese language literature", there is no doubt that it was deeply affected by the discourse of Japanese colonialism because the "Japanese language" was always described as a way to distinguish the colonial dominators from the ones placed under it.
