An invented queer tradition: Tongzhi literature in Taiwan

In this presentation, Chi Ta-wei 紀大偉 situates his award-winning novella The Membranes (膜 1996) in the context of Taiwanese tongzhi literature with examples from his massive research monograph A Queer Invention in Taiwan: A History of Tongzhi Literature (同志文學史: 台灣的發明 2017).

He suggests that it is reductionistic to interpret tongzhi literature as a mere variant of queer or LGBTQ literature and argues instead, with Eric Hobsbawm’s The Invention of Tradition, that it can be seen as a local invention. Chi’s work speaks to a lack of attention to non-heteronormative sentiments and lives in studies of Chinese-language literature as well as non-Western societies in anglophone LGBTQ studies.

This event is organized by China Studies Department and Asian Dynamics Initiative at University of Copenhagen and Books from Taiwan, and sponsored by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.