普里西拉．沃爾德(Priscilla Wald)在其著作《感染》(Contagion)中，對於當代具影響力的「爆發敘事」進行一系列的分析。本文受到其分析的啟發，特別是一套將傳染病的傳播置於一系列隱含在南北對立中的敘述，進而研究在臺馬華作家張貴興一九九八年的長篇小說《羣象》如何描述砂拉越共產主義思想的影響和傳播。這篇論文指出，小說用大象和鱷魚這兩種動物來表徵砂拉越共產黨游擊隊戰士兩種截然不同的態度，而在敘述過程中，動物與游擊隊戰士這兩組刻劃對象的角色巧妙地易位。

Taking inspiration from Priscilla Wald’s analysis of an influential contemporary “outbreak narrative”—and specifically a set of narratives that place the spread of infectious disease within a set of implicit North-South oppositions—this essay examines how Chang Kuei-hsing’s 1998 novel Elephant Herd (Qunxiang) characterizes the spread of Communist ideology and influence in Sarawak. In particular, this essay proposes that the novel uses two types of animals, elephants and crocodiles, to present two very different attitudes toward the region’s Communist guerilla fighters. Over the course of the novel, the characterization of each of these two sets of animals—as well as of the guerilla fighters themselves—is strategically inverted.