This paper examines L’abécédaire de la littérature: K comme Kafka as a case study to explore how the broader literary project of the L’abécédaire de la littérature字母會 series engenders a singular moment wherein “Taiwan Literature as Kafkaesque.” Through the interventions of eight contemporary Taiwanese authors – Yang Kailin楊凱麟, Yen Chung-Hsien顏忠賢, Hu Shu-wen胡淑雯, Chen Xue陳雪, Tong Wei-ger童偉格, Luo Yi-chin駱以軍, Huang Chong-Kai黃崇凱, and Pan Yi-Fan潘怡帆 – the L’abécédaire de la littérature does not merely pay homage to the literary experience marked by the name Kafka, but necessarily betrays it. Such a betrayal, this paper argues, opens up a distinctive writing/juridical space specific to the contemporary spatio-temporal coordinates of Taiwan. This space may further render thinkable a radical reconfiguration of the “afterlife” of Taiwan literature. This paper seeks to offer a philosophical intercession by first posing the speculative premise “What if Kafka had been to Taiwan?”. Thus, outlining the possible and impossible conditions of encounter between Kafka and Taiwan literature. Finally, it proceeds to analyze the intensities of six selected works within the volume and concludes by articulating how these plural literary practices refigure the actualité – the contemporaneity and realizability – of Taiwan literature.

The contemporary Irish playwright Conor McPherson believes that Irish people are naturally attracted by "the beyond". McPherson’s use of the supernatural, particularly his concept of “the beyond” as a means of engaging with the quest for Irish identity in the twenty-first century. In plays such as The Weir, The Seafarer, The Night Alive, and Girl from the North Country, McPherson explores the liminal space between the living and the dead, the known and the unknown, through ghosts, mysteries, and unexplained phenomena. “The beyond” represents a realm that transcends experience, inviting his characters to confront forces beyond their understanding, often linked to historical trauma, personal reckoning, and societal transformation. This paper argues that the supernatural in McPherson’s works is not only a narrative device but a profound reflection on contemporary Irish identity. McPherson’s plays offer a unique perspective on how contemporary Irish identity grapples with its past while searching for meaning in an increasingly uncertain world.

With the arrival of internet forums, fan groups of different literary and narrative universes reimagined their favorite characters in various situations without breaking them out of the world they were built in and originating what is now known as fanfiction. Soon, these plots became not only variations of the main story, but also re-tellings of classic literature, like Pride and Prejudice or The Beauty and the Beast. This allowed readers to expand the fantasy world of their choice and enabled an informal writing academy that offered already well-built fantasy worlds and well-known and loved characters to play with as well as immediate feedback from their readers.

These platforms soon evolved into offering both fanfictions and original works and now, twenty years later, they have become the editorial world and the reading habit fosterers’ savior. Still a writing academy, the audiences find books that meet their tastes through topic tags like “romance”, “agegap”, and “family”. Writers can know how many people read their chapters and how high their works are in the ranking of each category within the community. As happened with social media, if said works are popular enough, the writers might even be rewarded monetarily through the platform.

The success of this formula resides in how fast writers can write and adapt to the readers’ demands and trends and, while linguistic and literary skill is appreciated, an addictive plot with the right ingredients are the only requirements. This contribution will explore these requirements and if a human hand is even needed to produce what these platform readers look for with the aid of an AI content generator.

Just like we once swapped homecooked meals for fast-food chains, are our young readers imposing a taste for fast-books?

What can literature tell us about bureaucracy that philosophy or political science cannot? This presentation introduces the concept of bureaucratic fiction—a narrative mode that explores the aesthetics, ethics, and affective dimensions of administrative life. From Kafka to contemporary television series like Severance, fictional works have long portrayed bureaucracies not merely as backdrops but as dynamic, often grotesque systems of power and meaning-making.

Bridging literary analysis with political theory, I trace the historical evolution and global diffusion of bureaucratic fiction across genres and media. These narratives uncover how institutions are constituted and contested through language, paperwork, and ritualized procedure. Drawing on thinkers like Castoriadis, Foucault, and Weber, I argue that such fictions dramatize the shared suspension of disbelief at the heart of both literature and political authority. Whether comic or dystopian, analog or digital, bureaucratic fiction offers vital insights into how administrative systems shape—and are shaped by—human experience.

As high-tech modernism replaces paper trails with algorithmic decision-making, bureaucratic fiction remains a crucial site for political reflection, where the absurd and the everyday converge. By turning our attention to clerks, forms, and filing systems, these works help us grapple with the paradoxes of governance, legibility, and control in the 21st century.