本論文以日本時代台灣作家周金波的五篇小說為核心文本，分別為＜水癌＞、＜志願兵＞、＜尺的誕生＞、＜氣候、信仰與宿疾＞與＜鄉愁＞，透過文本細讀與歷史脈絡的結合，探討周金波文學作品中潛藏的文化認同探索與認同轉變歷程。
　　＜水癌＞與＜志願兵＞作於其留日期間及返台初期，展現出對現代化、文明與皇民化政策的積極回應，反映出當時台灣知識分子面對殖民現代性的樂觀。戰後，周金波也因此被視為「皇民作家」的代表性人物，多數研究與評論也針對這兩篇作品。然而，筆者認為返鄉後的作品如＜「尺」的誕生＞、＜氣候、信仰與宿疾＞與＜鄉愁＞，已逐步顯現出周金波對本土文化的關懷與內在認同的反思。本文採作品論的研究方法，從「現代性」、「殖民性」與「本土性」三方面切入，重新審視周金波文學作品中的認同探索與轉變歷程。
　　本研究主張，不應僅以政治立場定位周金波，應視為知識分子面對時代變遷下多重認同交織的文學表現，並跳脫「皇民／抗日」的二元框架，理解作家在動盪時局中的創作軌跡，讓我們能以更寬廣的視野理解殖民時期的多重樣貌，也使日本時代的台灣文學史更多元更立體。

This thesis centers on five representative short stories by Taiwanese author Zhou Jinbo during the Japanese colonial period—namely Water Cancer, Volunteer Soldier, The Birth of the Ruler, Climate, Faith, and Chronic Illness, and Nostalgia. Through close reading and historical contextualization, the study explores the underlying trajectory of identity formation and transformation within Chou's literary corpus.
　　Water Cancer and Volunteer Soldier, written during Zhou’s time in Japan and early return to Taiwan, reflect a proactive response to modernization, civilization, and imperial assimilation policies, embodying the optimism many Taiwanese intellectuals held toward colonial modernity. As a result, Zhou has long been labeled a paradigmatic “imperial-subject writer,” and much scholarship has focused exclusively on these early works. However, this thesis argues that his later writings—The Birth of the Ruler, Climate, Faith, and Chronic Illness, and Nostalgia—increasingly exhibit a growing concern for local culture and a reflective turn toward inner identity, suggesting a shift in perspective after his return home.
　　Employing a work-centered analytical approach, this research examines Zhou’s evolving notions of identity through the interrelated lenses of modernity, coloniality, and local consciousness. It contends that Zhou should not be narrowly defined by political affiliation but rather seen as a writer whose works reflect the entangled identities and dilemmas faced by colonial intellectuals amid historical turbulence. By moving beyond the simplistic binary of “imperial subject” versus “anti-colonial resistance,” this thesis seeks to offer a broader interpretive horizon for understanding the complex realities of colonial Taiwan and to contribute to a more pluralistic and layered view of Taiwanese literature under Japanese rule.