Convento de Santa Clara en Cumbres Mayores (Huelva)

In this collection the end o f innocence is h erald ed b y the disillusion suffered by those protagonists who becom e disaffected w ith th eir m ainlander fam ily traditions and ways, and yet cannot fit into the current T aiw anese social environm ent. Our m ain example is the protagonist o f "Carnal B odhisattva," a hom osexual artist who reacts in this situation by giving h im se lf up to sexual pleasure.

The story o f "Carnal Bodhisattva" can be regarded as the precursor o f Chu T'ien-wen's first novel, The N otebook o f a D esolate M a n to be published four years later. The description o f hom osexual love in "Carnal Bodhisattva" is the m ost convention-defying in the collection, it is striking in th e enthusiasm

n . Ibid., p. 19.

with which the characters go beyond the bounds o f norm al sexual behaviour in order to indulge their lascivious carnal pleasures. The story begins in flashback, as the artist recalls losing his virginity to his friend, C hia Pa, a w ell-know n basketball player from his civil-service community. The story moves forw ard to the present, describing the artist, now an adult, sitting in a piano bar being eyed by another man, who later becomes his new lover, Chung Lin.

The new lover reminds him o f his first love o f years ago. The author describes his feelings thus:

Those eyes w ere like those o f seventeen years ago w hich took his innocence and, as though perfum ed with an intoxicating scent, strongly aroused him. Snap the string, tear the silk, he instantly follow ed him, for like the bee and the flower together their encounter is fated by nature.13

Im m ediately after this depiction o f arousal, there follows description o f frenzied sexual acts: "They w ent to the tenth floor height, facing each other, naked, the highw ay bridge flying past the window, the orange light shining from the bridge, the cars from south and north move fast, driving over their heads w ith boom ing sound and that shining orange light. His (the artist) hands are reaching out to embrace him and he (the new lover) does the same. . . ,"14 T he story essentially consists o f the explicit details o f the hom osexual's encounters with several men, including his first lover, C hia Pa. In one episode, w h ich tak es p lace in a swimming pool, the protagonist watches while Chia Pa has sex w ith another, and

I 3. "Jou-shen p'u-sa", SCMTH, p. 52. Id. Ibid,, p. 52.

we are told that he is ignored "as if he is not there, like a single rash ."15 But, he still remembers and yearns for the love o f his first partner.

The artist also recalls his experiences o f seeking sex w ith strangers im personally not caring who they are. One episode describes his picking-up two teenage youths hanging out on the street. The youths are not nam ed, being referred to as "sixteen-year-old" and "sev en teen -y ear-o ld ." C hu creates a depraved image o f a homosexual love triangle. The protagonist knows that the youths are lovers, yet lusts after the "seventeen-year-old." R ealising this, the younger youth at once disappears for a while to give them a chance to make love. The ensuing scene is suffused with primitive violent passion:

Like the light and dark o f the yin-yang universe, on one side are the sparse, scattered neon lights o f the back (streets) o f the city. On the other is the reflection o f the city in the water, the fetid w ind's decaying rotten odour blowing from one hundred and eight thousand m iles away, from the dark, opposite side o f river. He takes the seventeen y ear-o ld into the reflected side, pushing him against the rough rock w all o f the river bank, and kissing him once ferociously, as Chia Pa treated him years ago.16

In the story the protagonist at first appears as the corrupter, how ever, after he has experienced the seventeen-year-old, the sixteen year old eventually returns and suggests th at he has sex with him. The younger one n o w becom es the m anipulator, and the artist the corrupted: "The sixteen-year-old dragging him, pulls him to lie down (together), asking him to have sex, w hich he does, w ith a clear head, delighted, and lonely too. W hen the rain stops, he gets up and

15. Ibid,, p. 67. 15, Ibid., p. 59.

leaves, trampling on the wet, shining reflection on the water. Carnal Bodhisattva by night, delivers all living things."17

The artist in "Carnal Bodhisattva," driven by incessant sexual desire, even know ing that his latest lover is in fact a bisexual who has a girl friend, he nevertheless arranges their next rendezvous.

N one o f his relationships, whether with Chia Pa or C hung Lin, or any o f his prom iscuous contacts appear to involve any sense o f m oral guilt, m erely the release o f physical tension: "The brotherly style, the sm ile w hich w ould only com e from the boys o f the civil service comm unity, the in tim ate friendship betw een men, that is sufficient. He smiled happily."18

T he sexual elem ent in these encounters evidently does n o t involve understanding or sympathy betw een the couples involved. A lthough the artist and his new lover indeed have similar childhood m em ories o f growing up in the mainlander's civil service communities, their conversation about the p ast at their second m eeting does not evoke any profound thoughts o f th eir fam ilies or the changing face o f the communities, but is simply a lengthy list o f old television program m es — com m ercial songs, cartoons, and Jam es B ond m ovies. For the characters in this collection the m ost im portant relationship they have is the one th at is actually taking place at the time, always against the background o f the city.

U nder the shadow o f AIDS, the artist begins to feel th at the w orld is closing in on him as he moves towards "the splendour o f p u rg ato ry ."19 Feeling frightened by his feeling that his body is used up by sex, he exclaim s: "Since the

1*7. Ibid., p. 60. 18. Ibid., p. 66. 19. Ibid., p. 51.

body is detritus, cut it up into wooden chips!"20 He recalls his mother's favourite "dry wooden fish" (mu-ch'ai-yii), the cut pieces o f dry fish cooked in a vegetable soup, the sm ell o f w hich dom inated his childhood m em ory and cam e to sym bolise both self-indulgence and neurotic self-absorption, and aw akens his sexual desire. A t the end o f the story, as his new lover leaves to m eet his girl friend, the artist feels disappointed that they will never have another chance to have sex.

W hat is rem arkable is that Chu uses the sym bol o f B uddha to create a sense o f purity and spirituality in the protagonist. The evocation o f B uddha in the context o f a story o f unbridled sexual indulgence m ay be thought to be designed to shock the reader, and may well have played a part in the choice o f imagery. How ever, the m ain effect is to point to the c o n tra st b etw een the B uddha who is cleansed o f sexual desire, and the artist w ho seem s to be attem pting to purge him self o f sexual desire by continual indulgence.