本論文以劉捷已出版的作品：《臺灣文化展望》、《我的懺悔錄》、《光明禪》一、二集為主，討論劉捷的文學思想與生命歷程，並嘗試定位劉捷在文學界「文化工作者」的形象及其對臺灣文學的貢獻。在臺灣文學史上，劉捷的名聲還不十分響亮，他的作品中唯一被提出討論的是發表於一九三0年代有關臺灣文學評論的文章，學者在討論時往往以「左翼」文學評論家來定位劉捷的文學身分；但卻忽略劉捷晚年在文學方面的作品表現，對於劉捷的文學形象也就較缺乏全面的探討。因此，本論文在研究劉捷時，並不限於他文學評論的部分，而是以其已出版的書籍為出發點，從書中分析劉捷的文學思想、人生觀點，以文本來研究劉捷作品中的思想脈絡及文學特性。 有關資料的運用方面，除前述之文本外，也旁及劉捷在報章雜誌上所發表過的文章，以為論述之參考；並蒐集劉捷曾發表及尚未發表之作品按年編次，期能藉此寫作年表呈現出劉捷更完整的文學形象。從《臺灣文化展望》、《我的懺悔錄》、《光明禪》一、二集這些文本的分析及劉捷寫作年表的整理中，可以看出劉捷的文學作品有著相當多元的面向。本文先從劉捷的生命歷程來探討其一生經歷與文學生命之關係，再由《臺灣文化展望》中探究日治時期，劉捷表現出的民族思想及人文關懷；並透過《我的懺悔錄》之內容分析，來看劉捷「無罪之懺悔」的意義及創傷書寫治療；最後，以《光明禪》二書中「生活即禪，禪即生活」的人生態度，討論其禪學思想特色及在生活中的實踐。經由這些資料的分析、整理，具體地呈現出劉捷「文化人」的形象及其在臺灣文學方面的成就。 The main topic of this study is focused on publications of Chieh Liu, “The Prospection Of Taiwanese Literature”, “My Confessions”, and “New Thought Chan (Vols.1 & 2)”., discussing Liu’s literature thought and life process, and trying to redefine him as a cultural worker and discuss his contribution on Taiwanese literature. In history of Taiwanese literature, Chieh Liu is not a famous writer, and only a few of articles about Taiwan literature review which were published in 1930s talked about his creations and he was thought to be a leftist critic. Therefore, the main concern of the study is not only on Liu’s literature criticism but on all his publications, analyzing Liu’s literature thought and his view of life. All of Chieh Liu’s creations, published and unpublished, are in chronological order in order to have a whole image of Liu’s literature. From the text of “The Prospection of Taiwanese Literature”, “My Confessions”, and “New Thought Chan (Vols.1 & 2)”, a great diversity is shown in Liu’s creations. The relationship between Liu’s experience and his literature career is discussed first, and then comes Liu’s discussion about Japanese period that showed Liu’s national thought and humane care by “The Prospection of Taiwanese Literature” and then through analysis of the content of “My Confessions” which presents the meaning and wound writing therapy in Chieh Liu’s “ Innocent Confession”. Finally, the two books of philosophy in "New Thought Chan" is based on“ Life is namely deep meditation, deep meditation is the life” which discussed about the characteristic of thought in Buddhist and practice in life. With the analysis of these materials which demonstrate the image of “ the person in cultural circles” of Chieh Liu and his achievement of literature in Taiwan concretely.
