Angelwings: Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan

by Fran Martin (Translator)

Lesbian and gay--or queer--fiction (known in Mandarin as tongzhi wenxue) constitutes a major contribution to Taiwanese literature, as evidenced by the remarkable number of prestigious literary awards won by many of the authors of the short stories presented here. Indeed, the meteoric rise of this new genre was a defining feature of Taiwan's literary scene in the 1990s. Queer fiction was also instrumental in forming self-identifying subcultural gay readerships, thus serving a significant political function. But most strikingly, this fiction has been immensely popular with general readers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as in diasporic Chinese communities worldwide. The startlingly fresh, brave voices that speak through these stories attest to the powerful social ferment of the past ten years in Taiwan, which have witnessed a revolution in discourses on sex and sexuality in the public sphere.



Contributors: Chu T'ien-Wen, Qiu Miaojin, Chu T'ien-Hsin, Hsu Yoshen, Lin Yuyi, Lin Chun Ying, Chen Xue, Hong Ling, Chi Tawei, Wu Jiwen.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, LGBT, Gender and Sexuality, Lesbian, Chinese Literature, Anthologies

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 1 out of 5]

1. Bodhisattva Incarnate - Chu T'ien-wen
2. Platonic Hair - Qiu Miao-jin
3. A Stranger's ID - Chi Ta-wei

These three intrigued me much more than the other stories found in this collection. However, on the whole, there was nothing particularly amazing here. There is much better queer fiction to be found in Taiwan, you just need to know where to look.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly worth it just for Platonic Hair

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldn't even finish it, the stories were too boring

[Aprile]

Wish I could give 5 stars just to "Platonic hair" it is that serious.

“So you can’t make love with me, even though you really
want to?”
“Mm—I’d be punished!”
“Like a curse?”
“Yes, like a curse!”

“It’s you that doesn’t understand how to love a woman. No—is it
that you don’t dare?”

"To be a woman who loves another woman is to be sharply, heart-piercingly humbled. The humiliation of not knowing what I could possibly give her shadowed my every move."

[Hoong · Rating 4 out of 5]

STONES ON THE SHORE by Hsu Yoshen included in Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan (translated by Fran Martin, 2003) is a realistic gay story that has the elements of gay men and Chinese culture. I'm surprised that it shows a confrontation between a mature mainland Chinese and a less mature Taiwanese man. It likely appeals to Yaoi readers though the elements of the gay genre are there.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I thought Martin's introduction and compilation of works was well thought-out, I lack the familiarity of Taiwanese queer fiction necessary to accurately judge her selection of works. I enjoyed most pieces in the book, but specifically read for Platonic Hair.

[Laur · Rating 4 out of 5]

there's a story in here for many kinds of queer readers, though you probably won't like /all/ of them, a nice insight and can introduce you to some writers whose longer works you can look into. I know I plan to

[Graham Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorites were "A Story of Spring Butterflies" and the titular "Searching for the Lost Wings of an Angel." Was kind of disappointed in "Platonic Hair" since I enjoyed 邱妙津/Qiu Miaojin's novels.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Dev · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ around 30%

It's been awhile since I tried to read this but I'm trying to catch up on my review writing so I thought I'd put a little note here. I decided to try reading this because I had read Qiu Miaojin's novels and enjoyed them and thought I would check this out as well since she has a story in it.

Her story was decent but honestly nothing nearly as good as her longer works and then one of the stories shortly after hers was just the most incredibly awful biphobic shit that I've ever had the misfortune to read and I decided that I didn't need to keep reading this book. I get that the point of this anthology is to preserve older works from a specific group and also that a lot of them are quite old and I'm not saying that there is no place for preserving a story like that, but I also feel like printing that story in this book with no kind of warning or commentary preceding it is at best incredibly irresponsible and at worst implied agreement with the subject matter.

It's possibly not fair for me to give the whole anthology one star based on that alone but my rating is a reflection of my personal feelings on the book and as a bi person that story made me feel like absolute shit.