Nagoya ¨C In 2021, Li Kotomi became just the second writer without Japanese as her native language to win Japan¡¯s most prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize ¡ª the first being Yang Yi in 2008.
It was her second time making history: she was also the first author to win the Gunzo Award for New Writers for the same reason.
¡°While I don¡¯t think that I experienced any particular difficulties publishing ¡®Solo Dance¡¯ because of my nationality, I was constantly affixed with the label of ¡®Taiwanese¡¯ in the publishing and media coverage, which may have caused some readers to shy away,¡± Li tells The Japan Times via email. A Taiwanese writer breaking into Japan¡¯s inner literary circle is a historic feat ¡ª and the book that started it all, 2018¡¯s ¡°Solo Dance,¡± is coming out in English translation on May 24.
This poetic fable about finding one¡¯s place in the world and escaping the pull of death is ambitious and thought-provoking. A beautiful translation by Arthur Reiji Morris will solidify Li¡¯s place in the next generation of Japanese writers to find acclaim overseas, opening up new possibilities for Japanese literature in the process.
The novel ¡°depicts the painful coming of age of a gay person in Taiwan and corporate Japan,¡± per publisher World Editions. The main character, born Zhao Yingmei in Taiwan, and reborn as Norie Cho in Japan, grows up with her childhood love shining in her mind, a bookworm and writer as drawn to literature as she is toward death. But a horrible trauma that she experiences as a result of her sexuality sends her deep into the throes of depression and plagues her university life. In the end, she moves to Japan for a fresh start, but discovers that it is never truly possible to escape your past.
The chapters shift back and forth between present-day events in Tokyo and Yingmei¡¯s childhood in Taiwan. ¡°Solo Dance¡± is overflowing with ideas and ambition ¡ª effusively lyrical, full of detailed descriptions of thoughts and feelings, sometimes to the point of melodrama but always grounded in reality. The narration is contained within Yingmei¡¯s often distressed mind. This narrative voice carries brutal psychological realism and literary play in equal turns. Yingmei¡¯s love for literature fills ¡°Solo Dance¡± with allusion, pointing to rich poetic, lyrical and romantic (not as in love, but as in the artistic romanticism) tales that paint a literary backdrop.
While dominantly confined to a few spaces in Taiwan and Tokyo, the end of the book suddenly sweeps the reader across the globe. And in spite of this jumble of ideas and events, the story nonetheless comes to...
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