Liu Yutsu, PhD candidate, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University

Wang Runhua’s Taste of Durian (2003) consists of two parts, “Tropical Fruit Mythology” and “The People Who Eat Burning Embers, Sunlight, and Mud.” Another chapter in the author’s concern for the people and lands of Southeast Asia, the work focuses on “eating,” celebrating food’s symbolic cultural implications in poetry and prose.

 “Tropical Fruit Mythology” includes eight essays on fruit and vegetables of the Southeast Asian rainforest, such as mangosteen, rambutan, and durian. In Rubber Tree (1980), an early poetry collection, local subjectivity expressed by the concept “Tropical Fruit’s Royal Lineage.” A Taste of Durian links various fruits with the imagery of “extended family” – the fruits’ ripeness, bright colors, rich flavors, shapes and textures are all intimately related to the land, manifesting uniquely Southeast Asian characteristics. In further exploring fruit’s primitive, aesthetic essence, the author introduces toddy (a wine made of fermented coconut flowers), vegetable ferns, and pandan leaves, describing the environment in which these edibles grow and the dietary habit of the people who live on the lands. Thus, food and drink not only remedy for homesickness, they also bring culture back to nature.

Ten essays comprise part two, “The People Who Eat Burning Embers, Sunlight, and Mud.” On the one hand, the works combine the writer’s life experience, covering a wide geographical range – China, India, Malaysia, and the West – shining a light on various peoples’ customs and attitudes from the perspective of dietary history and culinary culture, emphasizing history’s continuity and a living sense of belonging. On the other hand, the essays ponder the connection between haute cuisine and cultural traditions. For example, the University of Iowa planted gingko trees to serve as cultural landmarks; seasonal colors are blended into Korean kimchi, embracing the land and mulling culture; Singaporean Coffee Fish-head, nyona kueh (a type of cake), and Hainan Chicken Rice are all manifestations of the island nation’s pluralistic culture – all convey the writer’s concern for placing food and drink within cultural traditions.  

Taste of Durian is rich with new meaning and interest. The unique flavor of durian induces readers to linger in the Singaporean-Malaysian atmosphere; moreover, by focusing on tropical fruit, vegetables and other comestibles, the author explores the culture and customs of the Southeast Asian rainforest. Wang Runhua manifests his identification with and historical concern for Singapore and Malaysia through careful observation, fecund imagination, and profound philosophical inquiry.

Liu Yutsu, PhD candidate, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University

Wang Runhua (1941- ) was born in Malaysia and grew up in Singapore. In 1966 he graduated from Taiwan’s National Chengchi University Department of Western Languages and Literature. As a student Wang took part in the founding of the Zodiac Poetry Society and the publication of Zodiac, the organization’s journal, making many friends within the intercampus association. The society was Wang’s introduction to Taiwanese literary circles, providing him with practical experience in writing modern poetry. Wang later earned a master’s degree and doctorate at the University of Wisconsin, and taught at Singapore’s Nanyang University, the National University of Singapore, Taiwan’s Yuan Ze University, Tsinghua University, and Peking University. 

Wang Runhua has lived in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. This complex “transnational” experience has influenced his literary criticism, in areas such as Chinese and Western literary research and analysis of modern Chinese literature. In recent years Wang has devoted himself to promoting Chinese literature, taking part in in educational and artistic projects. He has acted as president of the Singapore Writers’ Association, and vice-president of the World Chinese Writers’ Association. He currently serves as vice-president of Southern University College in Malaysia. 

Wang Runhua is primarily a poet and essayist. Poetry collections include The Sick Sun (1966), Poems of Inside and Outside (1978), Rubber Tree (1980), Tropical Jungle and the British Colony (1999), and The Landscape of Humanity (2005). The writer’s rich life experiences inform his poetry, which treats subjects such as the tropical rainforest, tropical fruits, colonial history, and humans’ relation to the land, endeavoring to delineate Southeast Asian nations’ subjective characteristics. In the essay collections Nanyang Collection (poetry and prose, 1981), Go Home with Darkness (1995), and The Taste of Durian (2003), Wang continues to write about Southeast Asia, also touching on environmental issues. His literary criticism primarily focuses on Chinese literature, postcolonial theory, and comparative literature; works include From Singapore Chinese Literature to World Chinese Literatures (1994), Postcolonial Chinese Literatures (2001), and Chinese Literature: A Cross-Cultural Reading (2004). As a writer Wang has produced a body of outstanding literature and literary criticism.