晚近臺灣文學與世界文學的多元連結成為顯學，一時討論四起。本文透過比較文學的方法反思臺灣現代派的文學觀念，試圖藉以介入臺灣文學的跨文化論辨。在現代派的文論文獻中，「空間形式」與「抒情小說」實為兩個關鍵術語，由此衍生的文學觀念不僅落實為其作品的美學特徵，也形塑其作家有關何為文學的理解。空間形式由學者弗蘭克鑄造，他藉之以描繪現代主義文學的美學特徵，並指陳兩次大戰後西方文化在精神層面的劇烈斷裂；踵繼弗蘭克，弗烈曼提出抒情小說的說法，另從內向性與文體越界來闡述空間形式對於現代小說文體的深遠影響。在臺灣現代派的受容方面，夏濟安、葉維廉與李渝的文論寫作將是主要的例子；此三人在世代、性別與政治意識型態上各具代表性，充分展現臺灣現代派的傳承系譜與差異光譜。最終，本文也將對現代派文學視野中的「（非）政治性」新做詮釋。

World literature has again become a prominent issue. This paper sets out to engage the discussion by offering an intriguing example, through which one can observe how Taiwanese Modernists form the very concept of literature with their discourses on the spatial form and the lyrical novel: the former is coined by Joseph Frank and the latter by Ralph Freedman. The spatial form helps Frank conceptualize the modernist aesthetics as well as articulate the symptoms it unveils. Freedman’s concept of lyrical novel, on the other hand, investigates modernism by highlighting the introspective expression. Frank and Freedman’s scholarships exert a definitive influence on how Taiwan Modernists define what literature can be and should be. Tsi-an Hsia, Wai-lim Yip, and Yu Li will be taken as examples, as the three of them cover a wide spectrum of generation differences, gender orientations, and political ideologies in the Modernist campaign. The historical excavation of the idea of literature in Taiwanese modernism will bring forward a new interpretation of what it means to be “(a)political” in the movement.