Li Ang, one of Taiwan’s best known feminist writers, will talk about her writing on Monday, October 10. She has been invited by the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Center for Chinese Studies to speak at the University of California (Berkeley) on “Writing Sex, Food and Politics” from 4 to 6pm.
A prolific writer who began her writing career at the age of 16, she has published nearly twenty novels and collections of short stories exploring topics of sexuality, feminism and gender. She is best known for The Butcher’s Wife (1983) which is critical of traditional Chinese patriarchy. The heroine is sold by her dead father’s brother into marriage with a brutal butcher much older than she. He dominates her sexually and takes pleasure in frightening her in various ways, including a visit to the slaughterhouse, after which the heroine in a disoriented state of mind murders him with a butcher’s blade.
She boldly broaches subjects long considered taboo in Taiwan, earning her extensive critical acclaim both from her Chinese/Taiwanese readers, as well as internationally. Translated and read worldwide, many of her works have been reviewed by leading newspapers such as The New York Times, and made into films and TV series. In 2004, Li Ang was awarded the “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Minister of Culture and Communication in recognition of her outstanding contribution to world literature.
The talk will take place at 2223 Fulton Street, Berkeley (California) in the 6th floor IEAS conference room. For more about the event, please visit: (http://events.berkeley.edu/?event_ID=44664) or contact the Center for Chinese Studies at
or .