TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the Internet buzzword and news recently. One of the few popular ones is ChatGPT and Midjourney, fearing many people into the endangerment of literature and art creation.
However, people still believe in the power of literature itself, such as Kevin Chen (陳思宏), a Germany-based Taiwanese novelist. "I have amazing faith in the stupidity of human beings," Chen said. "Because I do believe that we are so stupid that we're going to screw this up."
His award-winning novel 'Ghost Town' was first published in 2019 in mandarin and translated into English by Darryl Sterk, which was published in August 2022. It was later reviewed by the New York Times.
To Chen, literature is "the basis of everything," not dying. He pointed out that from movies to shows, many things people enjoy now come from literature.
Still, many people questioned his choice of becoming a writer, worried that he'll "starve to death."
"I never allowed those noises to bother me. Because I wanted to do this, it's my greatest passion," Chen said.
Chen grew up reading plenty of Taiwanese literature, and puts Taiwan in a special place in his heart, though he has been residing in Berlin since 2004.
"It's my home. It's where I'm from. So it always has this wonderful spot in my heart," he said
And when asked about how Germany views Taiwan, Chen responded that things have changed throughout the years, as in the beginning, "people couldn't put Taiwan on the map."
"We cannot deny that we are facing military threats from China. [...] It's ironic that we get some exposure because of the threats we're facing," Chen said.
Moreover, Chen argued that mutual understanding between nations should come first.
"If you want people to understand you to get to know you, [did] you even try to understand, to read their books, to understand their culture?" Chen questioned.
But he still has hope for the future. Chen writes about Taiwan, and to him, "fiction is also true because it reflects reality."
His novel Ghost town' is "based on the reality that [he] went through." It is about families, love, a quest for love, understanding, and reconciliation.
"If [readers] enjoy the story, maybe they will get to know the sadness of the island [of Taiwan] and the happiness of the island through my story," Chen said.
