Luo Yijun Explained

Luo Yijun
Birth Date:1967 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Taipei, Taiwan
Occupation:Novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic
Nationality:Taiwanese
Language:Chinese
Alma Mater:Chinese Culture University, Taipei National University of the Arts
Genre:Literary fiction, Poetry, Essays, Literary criticism

Luo Yijun (; born 29 March 1967) is a Taiwanese writer.

Biography

Luo attended Chinese Culture University, where he studied Chinese literature under authors such as Zhang Dachun, who influenced his early style;[1] he later earned a master's degree in theater from Taipei National University of the Arts. His works include fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the China Times Literature Award and the 10th United Daily News Literature Prize. In 2007, he was a visiting writer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Themes and Style

The only child of mainland Chinese immigrants who fled the Kuomintang, Luo has attributed the themes of alienation and migration in novels such as Tangut Inn, which combines science fiction[2] with characteristics of postmodern literature, or the quasi-autobiographical vignettes that comprise We,[3] to his own experience of cultural outsiderness growing up in Taiwan.[4] His style has been described by David Der-wei Wang as "pseudo-autobiographical intimate narratives constituting a relay race of fragments, filled with uncanny and decadent imagery and undergirded by an immoral worldview".[5]

Legacy and Impact

Luo's essay collection My Little Boys (小兒子) has been adapted into a play by Huang Zhi-kai of the theater troupe Story Works (故事工廠).[6]

Luo's Tangut Inn has been adapted into a play by Wei Ing-chuan (魏瑛娟).[7]

Xu Rong-zhe (許榮哲), Taiwanese author of the novel 迷藏 (Mi-Cang), once said that he was influenced by Luo Yijun and Taiwanese author Yuan Zhe-sheng (袁哲生).[8]

Awards and honors

!YEAR!WORKS!AWARDS!HOST!RANK
1988"Red Character Group"The UNITAS Taiwan Islandwide Literature Camp Award for Best StoryUnited LiteratureFiction Award
1989"Roach"National Students’ Literature AwardMingdao LiteratureRecommendation Prize
1990 "A Roll of Film"The UNITAS Literature Award for New WritersUnited LiteratureHonorable Prize
1991"Toy Gun King"China Times Literature AwardChina TimesAudition Prize
1993Red Character Group10 Best Books of the Year by the Book and Literature Section “The Book Lovers”United Daily News
1993"Born Into the Twelfth Sign"Collected Short Stories 1993ErYa Publishing House, Yizhi Chen Edition
1998"Elegy"Collected Short Stories 1998China Times
1999The Third Dancer10 Best Books of the Year and Literature Section “Opening Books”China Times
2000Family of the Moon10 Best Books of the Year

Chiu Ko Novel of the Year Award

Chiu Ko Publisher Taipei Literature Year Award
2000"Five Stories of Jetlag"Third Taipei Literature AwardTaipei Cultural Bureau
2008Tangut InnAsian Magazine of Ten Chinese Good Books of NovelAsian Magazine
2009Tangut InnTaiwan Literature AwardNational Taiwan Literature MuseumGolden Long Novel Prize
2010Tangut InnThe 3rd Dream of the Red Chamber AwardHong Kong Jinhui University of Literature Department1st Prize
2014DaughterThe Year of the Chinese Best Books and Literature Section “Opening Books”China Times
2014DaughterTaipei International Ten Best Books Award of Asian MagazineAsian Magazine
2015DaughterTaipei International Book Exhibition Nobel Prize in Literature Taipei International Book Exhibition
2018Alphabets A-FFifth Literary Great of United Daily News awardUnited Daily News

Bibliography

Short story collections

The Red Ink Gang / Red Character Group (Taipei: Unitas Publishing. 1993.)

We Left the Bar of the Night (Crown culture Publishing. 1993.)

Wife Dreams of Dog (Yuan-Liou Publishing. 1998.)

We / Us (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2004.)

Nativity of the Zodiacs / Born Into the Twelfth Sign (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2005.)

Letter / Alphabets A-F (Participation: Chen Xue, Tong Wei Ge, Yan Zhong Xian, Hu Shu Wen, Yang Kai Lin) (Acropolis Publishing. 2017.)

Novels

The Third Dancer (Taipei: Unitas Publishing. 1999.)

Moon Family / Family of the Moon (Taipei: Unitas Publishing. 2000.)

Elegy (Taipei: Rye Field Publishing. 2001.)

The Distance / Far Away (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2003.)

My Future 2nd Son’s Memory of Me (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2005.)

Tangut Inn (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2008.)

Daughter (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2014.)

Kuang chao ren (匡超人) (Rye Field Publishing. 2017.)

Prose

Wo ai luo (我愛羅) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2006.)

In Search of Lost Time (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2006.)

Jingji da xiaotiao shiqi de mengyou jie (經驗大蕭條時期的夢遊街) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2009.)

Face Book (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2012.)

My Little Boys (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2014.)

May Our Joy Stay: My Little Boys 2 (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2015.)

Fitness v.s. Fatness (with Dung Kai Cheung) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2016.)

Hu ren shuo shu (胡人說書) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2017.)

Chun zhen de dan you (純真的擔憂) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

Taxi Driver (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

Fairy tales

Children's Tales for the Little Star (Crown Culture Publishing. 1994.)

Poems

Luo Yi Jun’s Poetry: The Story of Abandonment (Self-published. 1995.)

The Story of Abandonment (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2013.

Plays

Qing xie (傾斜) (graduation production of The Graduate Institute of Theatre Arts and Playwriting in Taipei National University of Arts, 1995)

Picture books

Kafei guan li de jiaohuan gushi (咖啡館裡的交換故事) (with Li Ya, Xi Niu, Wang Yan Kai, Lin Yi jie, Xiao Ya quan, Chen Yong kai, Sun Yi Ping, Huo chai, Lan Han Jie, Tin Tin & A Qiao, Guo Yu Yi, Zeng Yu Jie, etc.) (Locus Publishing. 2010.)

My Little Boys: Ye wan bao shi bao long (夜晚暴食暴龍) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

My Little Boys: Ming da de zhang lang (命大的蟑螂) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

My Little Boys: You yong (游泳) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

My Little Boys: Lan san (爛傘) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

My Little Boys: Chao jia (吵架) (Taipei: INK Publishing. 2018.)

Editor in Chief

Collected Short Stories 2009 (Editor in chief: Luo Yi Jun. Chiu Ko Publishing. 2010.)

Pi mei mao de fa qing ──LP xiao shuo xuan (媲美貓的發情-LP小說選) (Editor in Chief: Luo Yi Jun and Huang Jin Shu. Aquarius Culture Publishing. 2007.)

Notes and References

  1. 黃 (Ng). 錦樹 (Kin Chew). 2001. 隔壁房間的裂縫——論駱以軍的抒情轉折 ("The Crack in the Room Next Door: On the Lyrical Turn in Luo Yijun"). 中山人文學報 (Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities). 12. 31–43.
  2. News: October 30, 2012. David Der-wei Wang: utopia, dystopia, heterotopias—from Lu Xun to Liu Cixin (part two). Emma Xu. See China.
  3. News: October 30, 2012. Book Review: We. Caixin Online.
  4. News: October 30, 2012. Identity lost in a foreign land. Wei Xi. BeijingToday. https://archive.today/20130101121819/http://www.beijingtoday.com.cn/book/identity-lost-in-a-foreign-land/. January 1, 2013. dead.
  5. Web site: 王德威:駱以軍「破洞」倫理的極致──《匡超人》. Wang. David Der-wei. 1 January 2018. 說書 (Speaking of Books). paragraph 3, lines 2-3. 25 June 2019.
  6. Web site: 《小兒子》2019 淚推加演 (My Little Boys extends its 2019 run). 故事工廠 (Story Works). 25 June 2019.
  7. News: 駱以軍"西夏旅館" 改編登上舞台 (Tangut Inn gets a stage adaptation). 29 August 2014. Public Television Service (Taiwan). 25 June 2019.
  8. Book: 楊 (Yang), 佳嫻 (Chia-hsien). 臺灣成長小說選 (Selected Taiwanese Bildungsromans). 二魚文化. 2004. 9789867642790. Taipei. 289.