Oči nebes – Rapongan Syaman (2017)

The novel Eyes of the Heavens is already the eighth publication in the "Taiwanese Prose" series, which is being released by our publishing house, but it is the very first work of Taiwanese literature by indigenous authors that we present to Czech readers within this series. Syaman Rapongan (1957–) comes from a very specific tribe, the Tao, which is also known as Yami. This group consists of about three and a half thousand inhabitants who live on Orchid Island, east of the Taiwanese city of Taitung. He was one of the first members of his tribe to graduate from college. Generally speaking, his entire prose work is permeated by a deep relationship with the sea and traditional indigenous culture; in his works, he offers a unique perspective not only on the everyday life of the Tao but also into the depths of the aquatic realm. The author’s characteristic poetic descriptions of the diverse underwater world freely blend on the pages of his books with naturalistic scenes capturing the often harsh reality of life in the wild, thus providing urban readers with authentic experiences that civilization has "deprived" them of. On the other hand, it is already clear after reading the novel Eyes of the Heavens that the author’s relationship with civilization and progress as such is, in fact, full of contradictions. The heroes...