14 書香人物 P E R S O N A L I T Y & B O O K S SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009 • TAIPEI TIMES

[ HARDCOVER : U S ] SUNDAY PROFILE ‘A-Rod’ rehashes Spanish tenor Jose Carreras perfoms on stage during his concert in the Domplatz, Magdeburg, Germany on 23 Aug. 2008. photo : epa Yankee clunker’s string of gaffes A doper, a cheater, a spectacular power I didn’t believe in specialized singers hitter and a jerk — that’s what we — ‘This is a Verdi tenor, this is a already know about Alex Rodriguez. In Puccini soprano’; I believe in singing her new book, Selena Roberts repeats well or singing bad. all this and adds a few new accusations — Jose Carreras, tenor

By David M. Shribman bloomberg Hanging around with Madonna is no one’s idea of a good influence on a family man. Juicing your body may not be unusual in baseball, but it isn’t particularly admirable. And that’s before we add dropping into Vegas casinos, hanging out at strip clubs, and the capper: sharing pitch signals with opposing batters in return for the same favor down the line. A-Rod is one confused guy. He’s an accident that has already happened. New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez is in the news again. Not quite the final curtain Major League Baseball, which isn’t having a good 21st century, is investigating what performance- A-Rod: The Many Lives of am a little uneasy about this: an Surviving leukemia, creating the Three Tenors, world, like a marathon.’ And I said, enhancing drugs he took and Alex Rodriguez audience with the great Spanish- ‘Look, don’t you feel it would be much when he started taking them. born tenor Jose Carreras at and a disc of Andrew Lloyd Webber more interesting for the audience if we By Selena Roberts I Then there’s Selena Roberts, the his leukemia research foundation in songs … Jose Carreras talks career highs and lows put three tenors together,’ and the most Sports Illustrated writer who 255 pages Barcelona, sandwiched between the man popular ones were Luciano Pavarotti, from the London Times and a journalist Placido Domingo and myself.” is the bane of the New York Harper By Stephen Moss Yankee’s existence for having from a music magazine, all of us here to The guardian, london The concert, on the eve of the broken the news earlier this year celebrate the lifetime achievement award World Cup final in Rome in July 1990, that he took such drugs. She has constantly as if the right catch- he will be given at the Classical Brits on was supposed to be a one-off, but its published a book, A-Rod: The phrase from a self-help book Thursday, and to discreetly plug his new with the way I was then and this is not have to try the Neapolitan songs, because success led to the three performing Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez.’ could ground him in a normalcy disc, unenterprisingly titled The Jose good.” Does he mourn the decline of that it’s another way to express yourself.” together 30 times over the next 15 years, In truth, none of those lives is he at once longed for and Carreras Collection. instrument? “The voice is like a man, like Carreras does not complain that he racking up vast record sales, and, some particularly mysterious anymore, feared.’’ Plus this: “The arc that In some ways, the meeting is a polite ourselves: we all feel melancholic about was struck down in his operatic prime. would argue, making record companies or appealing, or even all that traces Alex Rodriguez’s rise to fiction. Take the photograph on the front what we have lost, the things we could Indeed, he stresses how his illness overreach themselves in both the size interesting. We’ve already heard superstardom neatly parallels the of the disc — an impossibly handsome do when we were young. But having the enlarged his life. “Even out of severe of contracts for classical artists and that Rodriguez is a doper, a one tracking the abuse of steroids thirtysomething with narrowed eyes possibility to still perform is wonderful. difficulty some positive things come,” he expectations of what discs might sell. cheater, a spectacular power in baseball.’’ She knows her guy. and immaculate designer stubble. The The voice loses elasticity as you age, but says. One, of course, is the foundation, This was the zenith for both artists and hitter and a big jerk. Roberts One of the most shocking picture is history, as are the disc’s curious on the other hand maybe you are more which he set up when he realized how companies, and the subsequent decline repeats all that and adds some elements of this book — and collection of operatic standards and mature as an interpreter, maybe your much research work was needed to was vertiginous. new accusations, suggesting I suppose it is refreshing that modernish songs, most of which were approach to singing deepens.” increase leukemia sufferers’ survival Carreras, however, believes the Three (but not proving) that A-Rod’s scandal-wracked sports fans still recorded a decade or more ago. In concert, he can sing material chances. Another, linked to his charity Tenors phenomenon helped classical use of performance-enhancing can be shocked — is Roberts’s Even though he retired from the that suits his now more limited vocal work, was the Three Tenors, which music. “We reached an audience that had substances was deeper and longer claim that during his time with operatic stage in 2002, Carreras insists resources — Catalan and Neapolitan Carreras inspired. never been interested in classical music than what we already suspected. the Texas Rangers, Rodriguez his career is far from over. “I’m still songs, light opera, popular songs, those “Yes, I’m sorry to say that the idea and opera,” he insists. “We received This is the investigative conspired with opposing batters fully active,” he says. “I’m doing 50 or 60 hybrid musico-religious numbers beloved was mine,” he says with a full-bodied thousands of messages saying, ‘Thank equivalent of finishing 32 games to provide them with advance concerts a year, both orchestral concerts of the new breed of tenor-crooners, as laugh. “I was singing in Florence, and you, the concert was wonderful and it out of first place instead of 27. notice of whether the pitcher was and recitals. I carry on singing because I well as the odd heavy-duty aria. He has, in somebody said, ‘Jose, we’re going to do gave me the possibility to get to know You’re still a bottom-dweller. planning a curveball or a slider love it. The closer you are to the end, the any case, always been willing to indulge in a very special concert for the final of this music.’” Were attitudes changed in The Roberts book will be and where the pitch was headed. more you understand how important it crossover — witness his much-criticized the World Cup, and we thought about the long term? “Many people who heard mined for its titillating details This vital information was is.” Now 62, he recognizes that the end is West Side Story with Leonard Bernstein having the best 20 opera singers in the those concerts are now going to the about the way Rodriguez played provided with the understanding approaching — “Next year is going to be in 1985 and his disc of Andrew Lloyd opera and buying classical recordings as the field for the Seattle Mariners, that these rival players — middle 40 years that I am professionally singing, Webber songs in 1990, a step too far for a result. Not all of them, of course, but a the Texas Rangers and the infield players like himself in so it may be time” — but he refuses to Gramophone magazine, which refused to very good percentage.” Yankees as well as how he played a position to see the catcher’s put a date on when he will quit. He says review it. Carreras recognizes that he was to the field after hours, and how he signals — would return the favor. he will know when the moment comes. Why did he make such records? some degree in the shadow of his two performed in both categories. Such moves would come late Carreras’ operatic career was shorter In the big-selling 1980s and 1990s, he older colleagues, and seems to accept In these pages there is special in a lopsided game where the than the two other tenors with whom he admits, artists were guided by their a pecking order of Pavarotti, Domingo emphasis on human-growth outcome was no longer much will forever be linked — Luciano Pavarotti, record companies. But he also offers a and then himself. But he believes the hormones and a mysterious in doubt, but still it is cheating, who was commanding the stage at major more historically grounded defense of combination was special: “There was a substance — no one quite knows of course. It is also selfishness opera houses into his mid-60s, and Placido crossover. “We follow a certain legacy chemistry between us.” And competition, what it is — called boli. — and a shocking betrayal of his Domingo, who is still taking on new roles from important tenors — Caruso, Gigli, too? “There was competition between us, The value of this volume teammates in the hope that his at 68. That is because in 1987, Carreras Di Stefano. All these singers sang the but it was a sane competition.” is less in the all-important own batting performance might was diagnosed with acute leukemia. lighter music of their time; for a tenor, With two grown-up children, three “gotcha’’ category than it is in be enhanced. Thereafter he had to husband his physical a Neapolitan song is almost like singing grandchildren, his second wife’s three how accurately Roberts got The Rodriguez that emerges and vocal resources and restrict his La Boheme. It’s a very important part children, the foundation, his passion into Rodriguez’s head, and how from this slim volume sure isn’t appearances. He says the voice was still of the repertoire. I didn’t believe in for Barcelona football club, and in the well she understands this man, enhanced. Number 13 swinging strong after chemotherapy and a couple of specialized singers — ‘This is a Verdi autumn of a lustrous career, Carreras who is trying to be portrayed as the bat provides, as Roberts says, years off; the body less so. “For an artist in tenor, this is a Puccini soprano’; I seems content, that throaty laugh misunderstood rather than the “a split-second gala of force and any field, it is important to know what are believe in singing well or singing unforced. “I’m a very fortunate man,” meathead he is. And in this she grace and confidence.’’ It reminds your limits, which is why I sang less opera bad, and if you sing well La Boheme he says. “I have in life everything I is merciless. us how much we, and Rodriguez afterwards,” he explains. and Tosca and Carmen, for sure you could dream of.” When you should, by Try this: “Alex liked thinking of himself, have lost from the old And now? “I don’t have the strength I all logic, have been dead at 40, your himself as an enigma. It made him days when, as she puts it, “there had 25 years ago. If I could do tomorrow Opera tenors, from left to right, Placido Do- 60s are a delight, whether or not you feel more dramatic and alluring was a genuine, lovable core in Carmen, or Boheme, or Andrea Chenier, mingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, can still hit high Cs or sing E lucevan le and worthy of attention.’’ Or Alex.’’ The core is gone and the or Il Trovatore, I wouldn’t sing it like 25 also known as The Three Tenors. stele at La Scala. For Carreras, the stars this: “Alex searched for meaning thrill is gone, too. years ago. I would be comparing myself photo: Bloomberg still shine.

[ SOFTCOVER : U S ] ‘City of the Queen,’ a bite-size story of Hong Kong Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin’s translation of Shih Shu-ching’s book reduces the original trilogy to one volume that loses the plot toward the end

By Bradley winterton about this translation is that the — they were also issued by the New Territories in 1898, when of the Queen is that the novel English edition is that the narrative Contributing reporter historical detail is a lot more Standard Chartered Bank. the British used armed force to inevitably invites comparison falls off badly towards the end, Shih Shu-ching (施叔青), one interesting than the story itself. Shih is subtle in her analysis disperse protesting villagers. There with The Song of Everlasting becoming a series of largely of Taiwan’s most celebrated Not only is the varied cavalcade of relations between the Chinese are descriptions of the widespread Sorrow (長恨歌) by Wang Anyi (王 inconsequential moments. Goldblatt authors, lived in Hong Kong for presented with great vividness, but and the British. Each group took disbelief that followed Darwin’s 安憶) [reviewed in Taipei Times and Lin note that originally Shih’s 15 years, spending eight of them in addition the reader learns a lot for granted the worst alleged theory of evolution, of the strikes on Aug. 31, 2008]. That book third volume was narrated in the first researching and writing City of about Hong Kong’s social history. attributes of the other. The richest of 1922, and of the Japanese also looked at the history of one person, but that this was changed, the Queen, her trilogy about the Opium, gold and plague all feature and the poorest members of the occupation during World War modern Chinese city, Shanghai, presumably to give the one-volume former British colony. It was prominently in the early chapters population were Chinese, but the II. It’s also asserted that during via the life of one of its female reduction a degree of uniformity. But published in Chinese in 1993, 1995 and, as if that wasn’t enough, you British kept a tight hold on power Hong Kong’s early days the most inhabitants and her lovers. I’ve was this really necessary? and 1997. This English rendition, also learn a lot about the kind of until comparatively late in their powerful voice in the colony was only read this shortened version The translators, possibly by the celebrated husband-and- brothels that existed and how they administration, and for this and that of “the opium-dealer Jardine,” of City of the Queen, but I aware that they may be open to wife translating team Howard were furnished. other reasons (notably inequality of followed by the Jockey Club, and have to say that The Song of criticism, also pointedly state that Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin, is This book, then, is both popular pay for the same or similar work) only then by the governor. Everlasting Sorrow appears to Shih approved “both the editing an abbreviated version, reducing in tone and well-informed. But they held on to their dominant There’s a fascinating paragraph be undoubtedly the finer book. and the translation.” Even so, the original to one volume. there are some apparent errors. social position. on ice — cut in blocks from North But then its aims, though doubts remain. Was the balance The novel tells the story of a That snow covers Hong Kong’s There’s an enormous amount American rivers and lakes, then superficially similar, are actually between historical detail and 13-year-old girl from China, Huang Mount Taiping (Victoria Peak) of period detail. You learn that covered in sawdust and chaff different. Wang’s novel is fictional narrative the same, for Deyun (黃得云 ), who in 1892 is “every winter” is certainly not the Chinese rang bells to scare to prevent it from melting, and like Proust — atmospheric, instance, in the three-volume kidnapped and taken to Hong Kong the case. The British would have away demons in times of plague, transported to Asia in sailing ships. sophisticated, implicitly claiming original as it is here, where to work as a prostitute. She quickly played snooker, not “pool,” and that there was a 10pm curfew at You also read about the firm Dent the status of literature. Shih’s, by history appears to overweigh the moves on, however, and ends up the Anglican cathedral of St John’s a certain period, that Sikhs were CITY OF THE QUEEN and Co, one of whose operations contrast, is like Zola — realistic, story line at several points? as a rich landowner. Fifty years of wouldn’t say “mass.” “Mid-Levels,” regularly used as security guards, was transporting impoverished shocking, well-researched and City of the Queen now deserves By Shih Shu-ching Hong Kong’s history are surveyed describing the residential area that prisoners were beaten in Chinese to be sold as laborers in aspiring to a kind of higher a full-length translation, especially in the process, plus another fifty, half-way up Hong Kong Island, is Victoria Prison in Central, and that 302 pages South America, with sometimes as journalism. There’s no question in the light of the translators’ via what in this version are rather always used in the plural, not in termites were a routine problem, Columbia many deaths during the passage as of influence in either direction assertion that to their knowledge brief tales of Huang’s descendants, the singular as here. And it’s untrue as were water shortages. in the better-known slave trade. as Wang’s book was published in this novel is the only one in to the territory’s handover to that HSBC (“Wayfoong Bank,” 匯 You’re treated to depictions of One of the reasons it’s such Chinese in 1995, at roughly the existence that surveys the last 100 Beijing in 1997. 豐銀行) had the exclusive right Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee a pity that we only have this same time as Shih’s trilogy. years of Hong Kong’s history from a The first thing to be said to issue Hong Kong’s banknotes in 1897 and the acquisition of the abbreviated translation of City The problem with this shortened Hong Kong resident’s perspective.