Half erosion

The times were the abyss,
She gazed into the abyss and talked to it

Following Black Sun, Han Lizhu's work blossomed into a humanistic and philosophical reflection amidst the profound changes of the times. Yan Shuxia writes: "The very definition of 'my city' has been rewritten since Xixi."

★ The latest work by Han Lizhu, the winner of the 2021 Taipei International Book Fair Grand Prize

In 2020, the pandemic and politics transformed Hong Kong and the world. Daily life in many places was disrupted, entering a state of semi-eclipse. The outside world became unsafe—either because of the virus or because of politics. People discovered that the security and freedom they once thought were as ubiquitous as the sun had suddenly eroded. Humanity is entering a new state of existence.

It is neither completely eclipsed nor completely bright.
We are not born to be deprived, but we once had it but are now losing it.
It’s not that I don’t have a home, but that I’m constantly losing my home and my sense of security.
It's like myself, living on the ground, gradually being shrouded in the shadow of astronomical phenomena.
If this is the state of existence in the 21st century, how can people live in this death?

Han Lizhu contemplates this eclipsed universe with her introspective and empathetic reflection. She begins her work with a self-reflection, while also bearing witness to the transformation of the city. As the world lurches through the shifting, sometimes overt, eclipse, she explores both inward and outward, perceiving the boundaries between the individual and the community, and seeing the intertwined webs of good and evil, life and death. The city's destruction is, in fact, also its rebirth. While originating from the very site of Hong Kong, "Elimination" is a book for the world, for those experiencing the current flux.

As Yan Shuxia puts it, "The difficulty of 'The Eclipse' lies in this: in the face of 'tyranny,' one must bow one's head and gaze back, first at oneself, and then at others." This book contains no loud cries about the fate of Hong Kong. It is profoundly quiet, yet this silence allows us to sense that the message within its words has penetrated every cell, reorganizing meaning and untangling tangles. Perhaps, by the time we reach the end of this book, we'll feel a faint glow within our cells. The outside world erodes, and the inner light illuminates.

Article Introduction

Yan Shuxia (author, assistant professor of Chinese at Tunghai University) Liu Canglong (PhD in Philosophy from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, professor of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University)

"'Black Sun' and 'Eclipse,' written in a format close to a diary, appear to confront the 'present' directly, but what they actually interrogate are the myriad connections between man and time, man and history, and man and his present moment." —Yan Shuxia (essayist, assistant professor of Chinese at Tunghai University)

"Literary works in the diary genre often reveal private emotions, but the personal feelings in 'Black Sun' not only have public significance but also possess a powerful descriptive force." —Liu Canglong (PhD in Philosophy from Humboldt University, Germany, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at National Taiwan Normal University)

Jointly recommended

Li Xueli | Fang Huizhen, Editor-in-Chief of The Reporter | Ma Shifang, Writer | Sun Ziping, Broadcaster and Writer | Huang Zongyi, Writer | Huang Chongkai, Professor of Geography and Environmental Resources at National Taiwan University | Dong Qizhang, Writer | Liao Weitong, Writer | Gu Yuling, Writer | Assistant Professor of the Department of Interdisciplinary Literature at Taipei University of the Arts

2021-04-28

衛城出版

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