New Park: Gay Literature in Taiwan Who's That Girl? Lesbian In/Visibility

> Asian Homosexualities New Park: Gay Literature in Taiwan The majority of gay-themed literature in Chinese is produced in Taiwan. Especially in the last decade many inspired by queer theory as well as by Western literature Research > Taiwanese gay-themed works have been acclaimed, translated into other languages, and/or adapted into films. (writers such as Jean Genet) and ‘queer cinema’ (directors Taiwan As homosexuality in fiction can be explicit or implicit, an exhaustive examination of homosexuality in such as Derek Jarman). Numerous young writers also Taiwanese literature is virtually impossible. Thus, this short survey will only centre on the works where explicit diligently circulate their queer writings on the Internet, which representation of homosexuality is identifiable. has been a major catalyst for the blooming of gay culture in Taiwan in the 1990s. These younger writers usually present By Chi Ta-wei Poster for Mickey less pathos and self-pity among gay men. Instead, their gay Chen’s successful characters may be rather confident, if not defiant. Flesh (1998), he most famous Taiwanese gay-themed novel is Pai documentary, Boys by Sun Tze-ping, for its transnational colours, enjoys popu- THsien-yung’s Crystal Boys (1985). This novel portrays the for Beauty, which larity among youthful readers. 1970s gay hustlers who gathered in Taipei’s New Park, which depicts today’s Gay literature is not officially forbidden or purged by the remains the best-known gay cruising venue in Taiwan. Both young gay men in Taiwanese government. It is, however, challenged by some elaborate and vernacular, Crystal Boys (already translated into Taiwan. senior writers. The 1990s witnessed a boom of lesbian and several languages) visualizes both a gay space (the New Park) gay writings to a degree unexpected both in terms of quality and a gay community. Crystal Boys, recognized as a tour de and quantity. This phenomenon may very well be seen as a force in contemporary Chinese literature, is one of the earliest return of the repressed, but many senior writers complain Taiwanese gay works. It was preceded by André Gide’s Winter instead that the emerging gay literature is just an unwanted (1966) and The Cicadas (1974), two novellas by Lin Huai-min fashion. The tension between pro-gay literature writers and (currently better known as the founder and choreographer those who object to it deserves critical attention. Despite the of the prestigious Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.) While Lin backlash, production and circulation of lesbian and gay focuses on the well-educated gays who are under the sway of Chen Mickey writings has not stopped. Many lesbian and gay works keep American culture, Pai illustrates the lives of underprivileged winning awards, and writing contests for lesbian and gay gay boys who perch on a low rung in the social stratification. the latter features spectacular sexual transgressions (includ- literature are held. The 1990s have witnessed a rapid growth of gay-themed ing male-to-female surgery). Lin Juin-yin’s The Burning Gen- In addition to fiction, Taiwanese gay-themed films also literature. One of the most acclaimed novels has been Notes esis (1997) and Li Yue-hua’s The Rouge Men (1995) focus on deserve attention. Among the best known of them are The from a Desolate Man, by Chu Tien-wen (1994), who often the solitude among gay men. With the stories in I Love Chang Wedding Banquet (1993) by Ang Lee (the director of Crouching writes scripts for the well-known director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Eileen (1992) and The Stars above the Hills (1998), Lin Yu-yi Tiger, Hidden Dragon), which focuses on an interracial gay Desolate Man, which has been already translated into Eng- displays poignant coming-of-age stories of gay men. couple in New York, and Tsai Ming-liang’s The River (1997), Hsu You-shen, an lish, is an exquisite postmodern text on mourning and Thanks to the Taiwanese lesbian and gay activism that has which features a sex scene between father and son. Both openly gay writer, melancholia. This masterful novel presents lonesome mid- emerged in the 1990s, lesbian and gay people are less stig- stories may sound quite unusual, if not incredible, but they had a highly publi- dle-aged gay men and AIDS victims. Its concern with the matized in Taiwan today. Among the activists, Hsu You-sheng actually accurately represent Taiwanese gay lives. The former cized same-sex wed- transient pleasure and pang, imbued with a Buddhist touch, is celebrated not only because he is a resourceful writer of var- scenario is not foreign to the more bourgeois gay men, while ding with his Cau- can also be found in Wu Chi-wen’s Reader of Fin-de-Siécle Boy ious genres (including erotica catering to female readership), the latter scrutinizes the lives of lower-class gay men. What casian partner Gray Love (1999) and The Perplexing Galaxy (1998). The former is but also for having flaunted a public gay wedding with his Cau- both films share is the fact that they interrogate the father- Harriman in Taipei a rewrite of Precious Mirror of Ranking Flowers, a classic novel casian lover. Although gay marriages are not yet legally recog- centred familial system, possibly the greatest obstacle in the City in 1996. on male same-sex love from the nineteenth century, while nized in Taiwan, Hsu has won blessings widely. His novel Men lives of Taiwanese gay men. < Married In and Married Out (1996) portrays a gay marriage. The writers born after the late 1960s have contributed References markedly to the representation of gay lives. The Crocodile’s – Ang Lee (dir.), The Wedding Banquet (Xiyan) (1993). Notes (1994), the novel by Chiu Miao-chin (also known as Qiu – Chi Ta-wei (ed), Queer Archipelago (Ku’er chishilu), Taipei: Yuanjuen Miaojin), who committed suicide when she was only twenty- (1997). six, is one of the first lesbian-themed works in contemporary – Chu Tien-wen, Notes from a Desolate Man (Huangren souji), Taipei: Chinese fiction. The novella depicts lesbian characters in a Chinatimes (1994). college, whose lives are paralleled by those of similarly impas- – Pai Hsien-yung, Bastards (Niezi), Taipei: Yun-cheng (1984); transl. sioned gay characters. ‘Queer’, a Western term introduced to into English as Crystal Boys, San Francisco: Gay Sunshine (1990). Taiwan in the 1990s, is often used by these younger writers. – Tsai Ming-liang (dir.), The River (He liu) (1997). With the collections of short stories Queer Senses (1995) and Membranes (1996), Chi Ta-wei is known for his ‘queer’ science Chi Ta-wei, MA is an awarding-winning fiction that parodies heterosexual normality. Queer Archipel- writer of fiction and essays in Taiwan, and is ago (1997) and Queer Carnival (1997), also edited by Chi, show- currently a PhD candidate in Comparative case Taiwan’s localized queer discourses and literary practices, Literature at the University of California, and provide annotated bibliographies. It is apparent that Los Angeles, USA. Hsu You-shen Hsu Taiwanese queer writing, both theoretical and creative, is [email protected] Who’s That Girl? Lesbian In/visibility in Japanese Society Two of the most commonly asked questions when I first began my research on contemporary more.” She complained a bit but didn’t commonly, the word rezubian, or rezu, Research > lesbian sexuality in Japan were: ‘Are there any?’ and ‘Where do you find them?’ These force me to say it.’ was inseparable from portrayals of Japan questions emanated from both Japanese and non-Japanese, from academics and non- Gender ambiguity notwithstanding, female-female sex in androcentric academics, from men and women, and surprisingly even from Japanese gay men. The these spaces did create the beginnings pornography. This left most women common assumption behind these questions was that, for the overwhelming majority of the of a new socio-cultural context in which who were questioning their sexuality population, self-identified lesbians did not exist in Japan, or at the very least they did not same-sex attracted women could meet few places to gain information. identify themselves as such in the public domain. This was the scenario up to the mid-1990s each other. And throughout the 1970s These understandings have contin- and to a large extent it is still the case today, despite the fact that there is a rich modern more groups began to emerge, such as ued through the 1990s, the association history of female same-sex desire to be found in Japanese literature and popular culture Subarashii Onna (Wonderful Women). of lesbianism with pornography being dating back to the early 1900s. At the same time newsletters also widely shared in Japan, amongst het- began to be produced and distributed erosexuals and lesbians alike. By Sharon Chalmers denounced the ‘masculinization’ of (arranged meeting) clubs, both of through the mini-komi network. Mini- Japanese women as represented by the which were primarily based on gen- komi is a system of distributing infor- Family and freedom here has been a consistent dis- moga (modern girl) and the male and dered role-playing. However, there was mal newsletters – by groups that do not Juxtaposed to the above images is the Tcourse around female same-sex female roles (otokoyaku/musumeyaku) nothing inevitable or natural about how have access or choose not to contribute centrality of being a wife and mother attraction in Japan, albeit predomi- performed by the all-female Takarazuka to behave despite the more commonly to the mass mainstream media – that across all social relations. The concept nantly in terms of negative or unnatu- theatre troupe throughout the 1920s. held assumptions about what it was to have become quite sophisticated and of ‘Japanese womanhood’ is achieved ral (fushizen) desires.

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