An Invented Queer Tradition: Tongzhi literature in Taiwan

In this presentation, Chi Ta-wei situates his award­ winning novella ‘The Membranes’ (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’ (2017).

Chi Ta-Wei suggests that it is reductionist 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 and non-Western societies in anglophone LGBTQ studies.