Notes of a Desolate Man

'Huang Ren Shou Ji' by easily and simply one of the best and most renowned writers in Chinese today, Chu T'ien-Wen, is a masterpiece. It's a true misfortune Taiwanese (even Chinese - even Asian) literature is still confined to academic Asian language departments in the Western hemisphere (while - excuse me - *crap* like David F Wallace and Easton Ellis and whatever happens to be the New Yorker's darling perfectly substitutable flavor-of-the-month continue to get all the top market bills here). In addition to the touching subject matter (about a middle-aged Taiwanese gay man witnessing the loss of his friends to AIDS), Chu is doing something extraordinary here with the language itself. Few (*few*) authors today - in any language - write like this, or are even capable of doing this - and so effectively and convincingly. Thus, another true misfortune is that all these experimentations and innovations are lost in the translation - not to mention there are simply also a number of just pure textual miscomprehensions. Goldblatt seems to want to, or is only capable of, rendering the most linear, 'clear', obvious, colloquially acceptable - and just ugly - English version possible. Someone once said genius cannot be translated by mediocrity - and this is literal evidence. We need someone with a true eye and ear for the language. It's a shame, really, given this is probably Chu's true first and biggest introduction to the West. Don't write her off just because of the translation. We can only hope her next work doesn't suffer the same fate, at the hands of those much less capable.

This is the story of a Taiwanese gay man dealing with the death of his best friend from AIDS. His reflections on culture, literature, and life in Taiwan are fascinating. I was reminded of Rabih Alameddine's "Koolaids" at times. In some of the passages, the writing is rough and dull, and I'm not sure whether that's the translation or the original. Overall it's an intriguing voice that stands out in the ocean of gay lit.

I also consider the narrator completely unbelievable a gay man. The self-hating, pathetic aging man is a cliché, but then so are the musings on Lévi-Strauss, Foucault, and art house films beloved by would-be cosmopolitan students of the 1960s. For a 166-page book with few words per page, this seems VERY long. The pleasures and insights are very few. Anyone who wants to read about desolated Chinese homosexuals lost on Taiwan, Pai's old novel _Crystal Boys_ is far more engaging.

I found this a very insightful book into another's world. There are many poignant phrases and sections that can be related to life in general. The writer is a woman but narrates as if this is a gay man's life relating on the gradual death of a friend from AIDS. It is heavy going at times but well worth the read.