Qiu Miaojin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Qiū.
Qiu Miaojin
邱妙津
Hanyu Pinyin
Qiū Miàojīn
Wade–GilesChiu¹ Miao⁴-chin¹

Qiu Miaojin (Chinese: 邱妙津; 29 May 1969 – 25 June 1995), also romanized as Chiu Miao-chin, was a Taiwanese novelist. She is best known for her 1994 novel Notes of a Crocodile. Qiu's works are "frequently cited as classics",[1] and her unapologetically lesbian[2] sensibility has had a profound and lasting influence on LGBT literature in Taiwan.

Biography

Originally from

University of Paris VIII, studying with philosopher Hélène Cixous.[3]

Qiu died by suicide at age 26. Most accounts suggest that she stabbed herself with a kitchen knife.[4][5]

Writing

Qiu Miaojin's writing is influenced by the non-narrative structures of avant-garde and

camera angles and ekphrasis in response to European art cinema, including allusions to directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Theo Angelopoulos, Derek Jarman, and Jean-Luc Godard. During her time in Paris, Qiu directed a short film titled Ghost Carnival.[6] Her works as a filmmaker are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.[7]

Her best-known work is Notes of a Crocodile,

cult classic."[10][11][12]

Last Words From Montmartre is an epistolary novel that comprises 20 letters that can be read in any order,[13] drawing on the notion of musical indeterminacy.[citation needed] Its prose appears to "blur distinctions between personal confession and lyric aphorism" according to a review in Rain Taxi.[14] Dated between 27 April 1995, and 17 June 1995, about a week before the author killed herself, the letters begin with the dedication: "For dead little Bunny, and Myself, soon dead." It has been described as a work of relational art and noted for the required presence of the reader, "a 'you' to narrate to" that is a signature of Qiu's works.[15]

Legacy

Qiu has been recognized as a literary national treasure and counterculture icon,[16][17] as well as described as a "martyr" in the movement for LGBT rights in Taiwan.[18] Her works are taught in high schools and colleges in Taiwan and have "become a literary model for many aspiring writers".[16] With Chen Xue, Lucifer Hung, and Chi Ta-wei, her work is viewed as that of a “new generation of queer authors” from Taiwan.[19][20]

Luo Yijun's book Forgetting Sorrow (遣悲懷) was written in her memory. Moreover, Taiwanese writer Li Kotomi explicitly cites Qiu's Notes of a Crocodile as an inspiration for her 2017 novel Solo Dance.[21] Queer Sinophone scholar Fran Martin writes:

Qiu Miaojin is Taiwan's best-known lesbian author. ... Qiu's fiction has sometimes been accused of being unduly 'negative' about lesbian experience; however, her status as a public lesbian and intellectual and the emotional honesty and intensity of her writing make her a figure of enduring significance for lesbian readers of Chinese everywhere.

— Martin, Fran (2006-03-01). "MIAOJIN, QIU". In Gerstner, David A. (ed.). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge.

Qiu Miaojin's life, work, and circumstances of her suicide have been made by Evans Chan[22] into a documentary film, Love and Death in Montmartre 蒙馬特之愛與死, with the participation of Lai Xiangyin 賴香吟, award-winning novelist and Qiu's literary executor. The film originated from a 50-min short, Death in Montmartre 蒙馬特 · 女書, commissioned and broadcast by RTHK in 2017. Chan later expanded it into the full-length Love and Death in Montmartre,[23] which was premiered as a Best Film nominee at the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival in 2019.[24] Subsequently, the San Diego Asian Film Festival[25] presented its US premiere in 2020. Hélène Cixous[26] described the Evans Chan film as “fascinating” and “marvelous,” with Qiu evoked as “a moving apparition in search of lost love.”[27]

Bibliography

Novels

  • New York Review Books Classics
    , 2017)
  • Last Words from Montmartre 《蒙馬特遺書》 (1996) - translated by
    New York Review Books Classics
    , 2014)
  • Letters from Montmartre (1996) - excerpt translated by
    ISBN 978-0-8248-2652-9

Short stories

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8248-2963-6
    .
  2. ISBN 0-226-73480-3
  3. ^ "Taiwanese novelist who killed herself in Paris at 26, Qiu Miaojin, remembered and reassessed in RTHK film". South China Morning Post. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  4. ^ 劉, 建華 (2007). "從偽裝到自白——邱妙津的"女同"認同之路". www.fgu.edu.tw. Archived from the original on 2020-02-22. Retrieved 2022-10-26. "1995年，邱妙津以一把水果刀刺入胸部，結束了自己二十六歲的生命。"
  5. ^ 傅, 婷婷 (2016). "爱在蒙马特高地". 夏日阅读 世界的另一个入口 (28). "1995年6月，刚过完26岁生日不久，邱妙津就像是玩了一个大大的游戏，选择了在巴黎的留学生宿舍用水果刀刺胸自杀。"
  6. ^ "Qiu Miaojin". Words Without Borders. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  7. ^ "Qiu Miaojin". Paper Republic. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  8. ^ "Qiu Miaojin's Survival Guide". The Millions. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  9. ^ Heinrich, Ari Larissa (7 May 2017). "Consider the Crocodile: Qiu Miaojin's Lesbian Bestiary". The Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  10. PEN American Center
    . Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  11. ^ "'Cult Classic of Taiwanese Lesbian Literature' Now Excerpted In English, Available Online". Autostraddle. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  12. ^ "Last Words From Montmartre". Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  13. ISBN 978-0-674-97887-4
    .
  14. ^ Mar, Jenn (2 December 2014). "Last Words from Montmartre". Rain Taxi. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  15. ^ Heinrich, Ari Larissa (7 May 2017). "Consider the Crocodile: Qiu Miaojin's Lesbian Bestiary". The Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-1-349-34320-1
    .
  17. PEN American Center
    . Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  18. ^ "Taiwanese novelist who killed herself in Paris at 26, Qiu Miaojin, remembered and reassessed in RTHK film". South China Morning Post. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  19. ^ Fran Martin, “The Legacy of the Crocodile: Critical Debates over Taiwanese Lesbian Fiction”, IIAS Newsletter , no .  29,November 2002, p.  8
  20. ^ Fran Martin, "Introduction: Taiwan's literature of transgressive sexuality", in Fran Martin (trans.),  Angelwings: Contemporary queer fiction from Taiwan, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 2003
  21. ^ himani (2022-05-24). "Li Kotomi's "Solo Dance" Is Haunted by Death and Literature". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  22. ^ "an Evans Chan film". www.evanschan.com. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  23. ^ "Untitled Document". www.evanschan.com. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  24. ^ "Album MITT, 16.10. 17:00 // Metropolis: Love And Death in Montmartre – Galerie Filmtage 2019 :: Hamburg International Queer Film Festival". www.hiqff.de. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  25. ^ "LOVE AND DEATH IN MONTMARTRE". 2020 San Diego Asian Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  26. ^ "Hélène Cixous", Wikipedia, 2024-01-15, retrieved 2024-01-23
  27. ^ Hamilton (2020-01-25). "Special Issue on Qiu Miaojin: Hélène Cixous". HONG KONG REVIEW OF BOOKS 香港書評. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  28. ^ In J. Lau and H. Goldblatt (Ed. & Trans.), The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007
  29. ^ in F. Martin (Ed. & Trans.), Angelwings: Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.

Further reading

External links
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