臺灣文學虛擬博物館

BASKING IN HISTORY’S AURA – ADAPTING NMTL ARCHIVE ITEMS

Archive adaptation is the alteration of existing stereotypes to highlight core concepts and the exploration of new media formats and outlets.

While words may be printed, copied and transmitted in a myriad of ways, items in the NMTL archive are wholly unique and immutable. These items embody both their own unique stories as well as the history that surrounds them.

The Crème de la Crème of NMTL

The over 110,000 items in the NMTL permanent collection are the foundation that underpins the archive adaptation project. Many of these items are one-of-a-kind, including the NMTL’s first-edition copy of Le Moulin Poetry Journal, No. 3, the prewar-era journal of the ‘Le Moulin’ Poetry Society. Item stories must necessarily be backed by extensive research and written by competent authors who have both literary talent and a firm grounding in literary history.

Narrow focus on place and time

To avoid simply synopsizing the life stories of Taiwanese authors, the archive adaptation process focuses narrowly on a particular period and place, opening a lens into the minutiae of life and social mores of a particular time. It is these details that entice readers, step by step, into the world in which each archive item ‘lives’.

Capturing the author’s perspective

By forgoing omniscience, readers view the world through the eyes of each author and experience times that have long since passed. Author and reader resonate together in the unfolding narrative. Stories center on the greatest challenges faced by spotlight authors, which create the dynamic momentum that keeps stories sprinting forward.

Narrating the story of spotlight items in the NMTL permanent collection is only one of several facets of the archive adaptation project. The NMTL is also collaborating with various companies on Taiwan-branding projects designed to further amplify the scope and reach of project work in a wide and expanding range of literature-themed products and activities. It is hoped that results will promote the core concepts, overcome the limitations of the printed page, and realize bilateral and even multilateral connectivity.