THE MICHIGAN DAILY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1955 f _ English] By PETE ECKSTEIN Formosa is "exotic" and Wil- liam Faulkner is "terrific", accord- ing to Prof. Marvin Felheim of the English department who got to know both of them during a year In the Far East. The good-humored professor taught two semesters at Taiwan University in Teipei, and for sev- eral weeks at the Nagano seminar for Japanese professors, where Faulkner also taught last summer. "He's our greatest living writ- er," Prof. Felheim said of the Mis sissippian, but he tells a less flat- tering story about Faulkner's visit to Japan. "He passed out in the middle of the American. embassy. The of- ficial story was that it was a sun- stroke. Actually, he was hotter on the inside than on the outside. Back on Feet "But he was back on his feet when we got up to Nagano," where both men taught American litera- ture. Prof. Felheim enjoys showing visitors the Yakata, or summer ki- mono, one of those professor-stud- ents gave him and the other sem- inar instructors. Most of the professor's time in Asia was spent on Formosa, where he taught under the auspices of the State Department on a Smith -Mundt grant. Formosa, after 50 years of Jap- anese rule ending after World War II, has been markedly influenced, he commented. "It's more similar to Japan than to the mainland." 20 Cents a Day Rents are high, but food and servants are cheap, due to a dearth of capital and an abundance of labor. "You can be pulled around marked ". ad e?Pa-wr town all day for 20 cents," he re- marked. After a trip around the island, which is approximately the size of Illinois, Prof. Felheim concluded that it was "quite beautiful, quite exotic. "The most striking aspect of life is the food. No American knows what Chinese food is like- it's divine." Houses are of the Japanese type, he continued, and each is sur- rounded by a high wall topped with jagged class. "It keeps out thieves, dogs, and to some extent, odor from the open sewers." Do and Don't Reports that the Formosans and the mainland Chinese get along well "aren't altogether true. They do and they don't get along," Prof. Felheim said, observing that stud- ents formed district national groups, socially and even to the extent of sitting together in class. "All is not happy on Formosa," he said. Though he experienced no political pressures, "that does- n't mean I wasn't aware that there, are pressures. There is plenty of evidence of unpleasant things. "There's censorship of the press and books. Anything mailed out by foreign correspondents must be checked. You can't buy Russian books or any printed on the main- land. "But they consider themselves -a nation at war, and these are wartime restrictions. "Students all tell you there are informants in your classes. I don't know if there were or not." "They Were Afraid" When Prof. Felheim told his ser- vants \they would have to register with the police as working for anE alien, "they were afraid." HowI Significant this attitude was "you honestly can't tell. - "There's corruption on the is- land, and fraud and greed and all the other elements you find, say,1 in the Republican Party. It's aE human problem. "There's no doubt about who's1 running the island. Chiang Kai-1 Professor Lauds Faulkner, Extolls Formosa a mosa periodicals and helping on the translation of two Chinese operas into English. "Very few Americans were in- terested in Chinese opera," he re- lated. "It's sort of a bizarre ac- tivity. Show Stopper "Once, when I walked into the opera, the whole performance stopped. Life for a relatively large Wes- terner like Prof. Felheim on an island of relatively small Orientals is a "constant series of adjust- ments." For example, "when I sat down at the opera I had a terrible time getting up. Once when I stood up to let someone by, the whole row of sets came tip with me." Prof. Felheim topped off his year in the Far East with a cruise to Indonesia and a week in Bali, which is "as exotic and more so than any movie has ever attempt- ed to portray it." He also visited Singapore, Su- matra, Malaya, and Japan, where he lectured and came down with yellow jaundice. He was wheeled onto the boat and spent the next few months flat on his back, a rather incon- gruous ending to an exciting and active experience. Concert Set For Sunday The third Choral Union Contest, featuring the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell, will take place at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Hill Auditorium. The program will include the Overture to "The Marriage of Fig- aro" and "Symphony in G. minor," both by Mozart, Richard Strauss' "Don Juan" tone poem and Schu- mann's "Symphony No. 4." The orchestra, founded in 1917, is currently celebrating its 38th season. Szell has been conductor since 1946. Tickets are still available at the offices of the University Musical Society in Burton Tower. FAULKNER AND FELHEIM-William Faulkner and Prof. Marvin Felheim of the English department at a dinner the novelist gave for fellow lecturers at the Nagano seminar in Japan last summer. Shek and the legislature were elec- ted during the war on the main- land. he remnants of that govern- ment are the government of Free China. "They're running a government that just simply happens not to exist. It's physical location is Formosa." Not All Dark However, the picture is not com- pletely dark. "Hhere are people in high places," Prof. Felheim con- tinued, "who are earnestly trying to be democratic." Unfortunately, "nowhere in the Far East are people prepared to assume all the responsibilities of democracy. Communications are not good enough, and traditions of economic inequality are still strong. "I think we go around the world kidding ourselves that other people can fall into democracy with the same ease as we do. You just don't find leaders growing on trees." As for economic conditions, "there's no question that the island is propsperous," but he attributes it largely to aid from this country. So Would illinois "Suppose you sank that mudh money into Illoinois-it would be prosperous too." Highways, bridges and electri- fication projects begun by the Jap- anese are being completed with our help. Commenting on the econ- omic development under Japanese occupation, Prof. Felheim remark- ed that "in some cases Formosans look back on the past as the good old days." As for the Nationalists' relations with the United States, he said, "if anything goes wrong they tend to blame us. We are the only ma- jor government in the West that maintains an embassy on Formosa. They're completely dependent on us." The offshore islands "are valued for their prestige," he added. "They do control Amoy harbor, and can be used to prevent a cer- tain amount of shipping. They represent stepping stones either way. Secret Treaties "In an oratorical contest I judg- ed almost all the students spoke on the significance of the islands. "The others denounced secret treaties-especially Yalta." A United Nations Trusteeship for the island "would be very un- popular with the mainland Chin- ese," he continued. Expressing a "great feeling of love" for the Chinese Formosan peoples, Prof. Felheim said "they are just ordinary human beings like us. Americans have always had an idea that every coolie had his own special rice bowl that was a work of art. That's just not true. "They don't have an exceptional understanding of art and they're not overly respectful of scholar- ship, any more than people of any nation." Prof. Felheim taught two class- es at the University of Taiwan-- a survey of English literature re- quired of all students in the fore- ign language department and a course in American literature for "overseas Chinese" studying on Formosa. Tremendous Pressure There is tremendous pressure on Chinese living in other parts of Asia, he explained. Both the Communists and the Nationalists are trying to win their support, and one means of appealing to them is to offer educational cours- es especially designed for them. His students had long previous experience with English, Prof. Felheim said, averaging six years of instruction in secondary school. "I was able to lecture in Eng- lish. My Chinese was strictly lim- ited, even though I took lessons. I knew just enough to order a pad- dy cab or a meal.". Chinese, he said, is a "difficult language." "You Tell Him" "English was the basic language in the department. Students then can go on to French, Spanish, or German. Unfortunately, they don't teach Japanese, but you. tell the Minister of Education what to do." Control of the University by the Minister, a political official, re- sults in a lack of "acadeniic free- dom", he added. Prof. Felheim also taught army officers in a language school, training them to function as lia- son with Americans. "All of the officers I taught are alone on Formosa," he said. "Their families are on the mainland. Their only hope is to return." The Generalissimo and Madam Chiang are "revered" by the offi- cers, he commented. "Everything they say is taken quite literally to heart." Prof. Felheim also served as the consulting editor for the eight vol- umes of an anthology of American studies being edited by the U. S. Information Service on Formosa. The professor's other activities included writing several articles on the English language for For- "TWEED" TOPCOATS The magic fabric for fall of '55. 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