Crystal Boys by Pai Hsien-yung (1993) – first published 1983
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Overview:
Set in 1960s Taipei (Taiwan), Crystal Boys is the first modern Chinese novel on gay themes. A-quing, the adolescent hero, comes from an impoverished family. His father casts him out after learning that his son is gay. A-qing drifts into New Park, a gay hangout in Taipei, and begins his life as a hustler. He meets other boys living on the street, also forsaken by their families: Little Jade, who is constantly searching for his unknown father; Mousey, an orphan and petty thief; and Wu Min, a shy and tender kid, who attempts suicide when discarded by a middle-aged man. These four boys become fast friends and are taken under the protection of Chief Yang, a fiftyish gay guru in the Park. The boys begin to build a family of their own. Meanwhile, A-qing meets Dragon Prince, whose passionate and fateful love for Phoenix Boy has become a legend of the Park … The second part of the novel deals with the Cozy Nest, a gay bar run by Chief Yang, where the boys and other homosexual exiles have found a refuge. The bar is sponsored by Papa Fu, whose young soldier son had shot himself when his homosexuality was exposed.
In Taiwan, the gay community is known as the buoliquan, literally ‟glass community,” while the individuals are called! ‟glass boys” or “crystal boys.” Critics on Pai Hsien-yung’s writing:
“Possibly the top stylist writing in Chinese today …”
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
“Howard Goldblatt’s translation [of Crystal Boys] is excellent, managing to capture the bittersweet tone, the uneven bursts of poetic and prosaic narrative, and the pervasive imagery of the original. The first modern Chinese novel on the lives of homosexuals is often moving and always thought-provoking. English translation is most welcome in light of the continued homophobia in our societies.”
— World Literature Today
Crystal Boys was first published in Taiwan and has since appeared in Hong Kong and in mainland China: two editions (Beijing and Harbin) were published in 1987. A film, Outcasts, based on the novel and directed by Yu Kan-Ping (1986) has been available in the United States on video cassette (subtitled).
Genre:
MM Fiction, coming-of-age
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