2024-07-02 20:42:03
Metropolis of Ghosts is probably the most vital novel that Taiwan has given the world in recent times, critics agree. And this even though it was created in Berlin, the place its writer, author and screenwriter Kevin Chen has lived for twenty years. Now they’re coming to the Czech Republic from there.
This yr, Taiwan is the principle visitor of the Month of Writer Studying touring competition. The shifting competition of literature will start on Monday, July 1. It takes place in Brno, Ostrava, in Slovakia then in Košice, Prešov, Bratislava and, regardless of the battle, additionally in Lviv, Ukraine. Readers can meet Kevin Chen as early as this Wednesday, June 26, in Prague’s Václav Havel Library. “The ghosts of the useless and the shadows of the violent previous frighten us,” he says not solely about Berlin, the place Aktuálně.cz gave an interview.
Do Taiwanese individuals consider in ghosts?
The spirits of the useless are a actuality for us, a part of our tradition. We consider in ghosts, we reside with them, we speak about them. My novel is about in summer season, when we have now an entire lunar month devoted to spirits in Taiwan. We consider that at the moment the gates of hell open and spirits come into our world. They’re ravenous as a result of they’re trapped down there. They wander the world for a month and we dwelling should put together a feast for them. Feed them and water them so they do not scare us. On the identical time, it’s a month when one shouldn’t get married, journey by aircraft and the like.
My mom used to say I should not go swimming on ghost moon as a result of it is harmful. Ghosts might pull me down. Dad and mom believed that spirits have been within the bushes, within the floor, simply all over the place. They don’t seem to be supernatural beings, however actuality.
How do you follow your perception in spirits right here in Berlin?
I can not do this in any respect! Folks right here do not consider in ghosts in any respect. On the identical time, Berlin ought to scare us probably the most out of all of the cities. We had Nazis, hundreds of thousands of useless, a metropolis divided by a wall, the darkest moments of the twentieth century. We’re at the moment sitting on the positioning of a former Nazi jail the place many individuals died. Once I moved in, I used to be like, The place are the ghosts? This city ought to be haunted! I requested the locals, however I discovered that the spirits of the useless usually are not of their vocabulary, of their creativeness, they don’t consider of their existence, and by that I imply non secular individuals, Catholics and Protestants. When not a part of language and creativeness, ghosts virtually can’t exist.
Kevin Chen has been dwelling in Berlin for twenty years. | Photograph: Josef Krajbich
What did you consider it as a toddler?
My mother used to inform me scary tales about them earlier than mattress so I would not get offended and sleep. In Taiwan, ghosts reside in fairy tales and tales. The tradition of ghosts can also be a tradition of worry. A stroll via a cemetery in Taiwan evokes in a single the horror of the useless. Cemeteries in Germany or in your nation within the Czech Republic resemble parks, whereas these in Taiwan are all the time exterior town limits. On the identical time, and I’m speaking about maturity, the ghosts of the useless are a metaphor for the previous. Which one can’t eliminate, regardless that it scares him. Transfer the narrative to the extent of society and also you get the so-called white terror in Taiwan or Nazism right here in Germany. These are the ghosts that hang-out right here.
The hero of your novel Ghost City is haunted by reminiscences of the bullying he skilled in Taiwan as a result of he’s homosexual. Was it that onerous in your case too?
I used to be born in 1976, I grew up within the seventies and eighties. That’s, on the time when Taiwan was beneath martial regulation. The identify has a masculine and patriarchal which means, take for instance “martial regulation” in English. There may be nothing maternal in it, it refers completely to males, fathers. Even gender was beneath management at the moment. It was out of the query for males to put on lengthy hair and girls to put on quick hair. It was onerous to be homosexual after I was rising up, nevertheless it was simply as onerous for girls in a patriarchal, male-dominated society. And truly anybody who deviated from the strict guidelines.
When did you determine to inform about your previous?
I completed Ghost City after I was forty-three, however I began a couple of decade earlier. At first I wrote about twenty pages after which put them away. I noticed that I haven’t got sufficient bitterness and unhappiness in me for such prose. I used to be laughing an excessive amount of, enthusiastic about Berlin, the place I moved. Ten years later, I might already really feel the bitterness from the previous. Berlin helped me with that. Surviving as a foreigner will not be simple. I grew up, however I additionally turned bitter.
In Taiwan, ghosts reside in fairy tales and tales, says author Kevin Chen. | Photograph: Josef Krajbich
Is unhappiness and bitterness associated to your previous?
Sure. My e book will not be autobiographical, though it’s partly based mostly alone expertise. The principle character has seven sisters, similar to me. The dad and mom tried till lastly a son was born. My brother. They have been satisfied that it was not good for a boy to develop up surrounded by so many ladies. He could possibly be homosexual or effeminate. That is why I used to be born. Within the Yr of the Dragon, which can also be this yr.
For Chinese language communities, whether or not in Taiwan, China, Malaysia or Hong Kong, the dragon is a particular signal. Each household desires a dragon boy. Nevertheless, it seems that I’m not what dad and mom care about. I used to be nearer to my seven sisters than to my one brother. They did not perceive what was incorrect with me. The boy performs the piano, aspires to grow to be a dancer or a author. However my brother was the proper son! He appreciated to combat, he loved combating, all the ladies on the town beloved him. On the age of eighteen, he obtained married and had a son.
An ideal story…
Sure, whereas mine fearful his dad and mom as a result of they did not perceive him in any respect. I felt like an undesirable eighth daughter. The ladies in our household have been the dad and mom’ makes an attempt to supply a son. I made a decision to inform about all this in my prose. However on the age of thirty-three I used to be too younger, unsettled and unable to write down such a giant story.
Kevin Chen (48)
Taiwanese author Kevin Chen, whose actual identify is Chen S’chung, grew up in an atmosphere stuffed with patriarchal expectations and calls for whereas struggling along with his queer id. He additionally writes about it within the novel Metropolis of Ghosts from 2019. It has been translated into 12 languages, however has not but been revealed in Czech.
Kevin Chen is coming to the Czech Republic as a visitor of the Writer’s Studying Month competition. He’ll carry out this Wednesday, June 26, in Prague’s Václav Havel Library, then July 18 in Brno’s Goose on a String Theater, a day later in Ostrava’s cultural middle Provoz u réky – membership Brno, the next day in Prešov and July 21 in Bratislava.
How are your sisters?
They’d their future mapped out from an early age. No highschool and no additional research. The dad and mom’ major concern was that their daughters discover a groom as quickly as doable and transfer away. Educated ladies could be feared by males. Most of them obtained married at eighteen and moved away from dwelling. They handed from one patriarchy to a different. Which is gloomy, though I admit that watching sad marriages tends to be inspiring for writers.
On the identical time, Taiwan has modified inside a technology, LGBTQ+ rights are even official authorities coverage. Do you are feeling extra at dwelling there?
Now sure. I as soon as went to a boarding highschool, all boys, a really masculine atmosphere. The lecturers did not know what to do with me, my classmates bullied me. I do not assume it is due to effeminacy, however when a man does not play basketball or soccer, he is bizarre. You already know, center faculty is a troublesome time for everybody. Now think about that my former highschool gave me an honorary diploma as an excellent graduate. My identify is on the wall there! On the identical time, I used to be sad and unpopular there as a result of I learn poetry. Not too long ago, nevertheless, a radical change has come, a minimum of within the massive cities of Taiwan you’ll be able to see guys holding fingers. And my former highschool even opened as much as women.
Why is your novel not solely narrated by the principle character, but in addition by many different characters?
I’ll reply with a hyperlink to a well known film. It’s possible you’ll be accustomed to Taiwanese director Ang Lee. Within the Nineties, he filmed the so-called “father trilogy”. The third movie was known as Eat, Drink, Man, Lady. It exhibits a Taiwanese household that will get collectively each Sunday. The daddy, the chef, cooks for everybody. They sit all the way down to eat however by no means speak about their emotions. That is very Taiwanese. My household is identical. We do not speak about emotions, even at the moment we won’t say ‘I really like you’ to one another. We categorical our emotions with meals. We inform youngsters that we love them with meals.
Such a scenario arose after my mom’s funeral. You in all probability even have funerals related to a feast. Disappointment must be eaten, to present power to the physique. We’re sitting across the desk, remembering an incident from our mom’s life, however we every keep in mind it just a little in a different way. We have been there, everybody was simply watching from some place else. This argument on the funeral feast was the mannequin for the novel. All of the characters obtained an opportunity to inform the way it was.
The novel, hopefully we cannot give an excessive amount of away, has a drastic plot. A person kills his companion. Why a lot violence?
While you’re speaking a couple of male-dominated society, you’ll be able to’t keep away from violence. I even wished to begin the novel with a homicide. The mannequin was my first go to to Berlin. As a scholar, I received a writing competitors in 1998. I wished to look right here for the successful cash. At the moment, nevertheless, a visa was required. A policeman stopped me on the airport, saying that he had by no means seen the paperwork of such a rustic earlier than. I say that Germany doesn’t have an embassy in Taiwan, however solely an workplace, and he or she gave it to me. They arrested me and defined why. They have been lacking the eagle on the stamp, so the German authorities thought my visa was cast.
In order that they lastly launched me, however after I wished to test into the hostel, I discovered that my passport was left on the airport. I hurried again and located my passport with the identical policeman who was arresting me. He suspected me of forgetting my passport on goal. Our dialog was unusual.
Six years later I moved to Germany. A good friend from Taiwan, a homosexual man who had lived right here for a very long time, invited me to dinner to introduce me to his good friend. It was the identical police officer. Sooner or later late at evening a good friend texts me asking if he can cease by. I could not sleep anyway; in all probability the spirits did not let me. He got here from his policeman good friend all dressed up, bleeding and bruised. He assured me that we might not report something to the police. He determined to return to Taiwan. He requested me to choose up his issues on the residence the place he lived with a good friend. Looking out the residence, I discovered a door to a secret chamber. It was an entire Nazi sanctuary! Stuffed with flags and insignia. I’ve all the time wished to inform that story. That is why I wrote a novel concerning the demons of the previous that hang-out us.
Video: I do not like stereotypes. That is why I used to be afraid to confess that I am homosexual, says the actor Peroutka (10/17/2023)
“I all the time ended up saying that it is not vital to speak,” actor Milan Peroutka described how he determined whether or not to publicly admit his sexual orientation. | Video: Blahoslav Baťa