67th pangolin
 |
Description
Book Introduction
- A word from MD
-
Let's run away together, leaving this world behind.
The latest work by Tian Sihong, author of ‘Land of Ghosts.’
A man and a woman who met in front of the camera during their childhood and became entangled in a special friendship and love.
A woman suffering from insomnia can only fall asleep next to him, and he silently accepts her.
A story about sharing unspeakable secrets and pain, and furthermore, relying on each other.
September 20, 2024. Novel/Poetry PD Kim Yu-ri
Bestseller "Land of Ghosts"
Tian Sihong's latest work!
Rave reviews from [The New York Times], [Le Monde], and [Mainichi Shimbun]!
[New York Times] The latest work by Chen Sihong, author of 『Land of Ghosts』, which became a bestseller and was translated into 12 languages and which sparked a 'Taiwanese literature boom' when it was introduced to Korean readers in January of this year to great acclaim, 『The 67th Pangolin』, has been published by Minumsa.
While the previous work depicted the painful modern history of Taiwan through a family using the folk motif of "ghosts," "The 67th Pangolin" is a masterpiece that deeply explores the various aspects of loneliness and healing through the relationship between a gay man and a heterosexual woman who met in childhood and exchanged friendship, devotion, and hurt throughout their lives.
Tian Sihong's latest work!
Rave reviews from [The New York Times], [Le Monde], and [Mainichi Shimbun]!
[New York Times] The latest work by Chen Sihong, author of 『Land of Ghosts』, which became a bestseller and was translated into 12 languages and which sparked a 'Taiwanese literature boom' when it was introduced to Korean readers in January of this year to great acclaim, 『The 67th Pangolin』, has been published by Minumsa.
While the previous work depicted the painful modern history of Taiwan through a family using the folk motif of "ghosts," "The 67th Pangolin" is a masterpiece that deeply explores the various aspects of loneliness and healing through the relationship between a gay man and a heterosexual woman who met in childhood and exchanged friendship, devotion, and hurt throughout their lives.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Part 1: A Walk
1.
Sleep 11
2.
Handstand 40
3.
New store 68
4.
The Mountain Maker 98
5.
Kickboard 131
6.
Forest 162
7.
There are no trees 196
Part 2: Getting on the road
1.
Ballad 227
2.
Bread 260
3.
Sea bass 291
4.
Susemi 325
5.
Shipwreck 361
6.
Cockroach 396
7.
Screw 429
Part 3 Nantes
1.
Construction site 465
2.
Poster 473
Author's Note 481
Translator's Note 487
1.
Sleep 11
2.
Handstand 40
3.
New store 68
4.
The Mountain Maker 98
5.
Kickboard 131
6.
Forest 162
7.
There are no trees 196
Part 2: Getting on the road
1.
Ballad 227
2.
Bread 260
3.
Sea bass 291
4.
Susemi 325
5.
Shipwreck 361
6.
Cockroach 396
7.
Screw 429
Part 3 Nantes
1.
Construction site 465
2.
Poster 473
Author's Note 481
Translator's Note 487
Into the book
Perhaps waiting was what kept her going.
Waiting a little longer, and waiting for the next person.
Waiting was an active, not passive, state.
It can be said to be a physical combat posture.
To sleep well, she had to wait for him.
--- p.12
Suddenly, a familiar smell drifted into the park, lingering and sticking to my nostrils.
It was close to a moldy smell.
J stood up, took a deep breath, and cheered.
The word "Petrichor" kept coming out from her red lips.
When he shook his head and said he didn't know what he was talking about, J wrote "Petrichor" on his palm.
After several failed attempts at typing the word into his phone, he finally found the correct spelling.
It was Petrichor.
He had never heard the Chinese equivalent of this word.
When plants encounter drought, the oil droplets they secrete seep into the mud or rocks, and when rain hits the dry land, the smell of these oils mixed with the rainwater is called petrichor.
In fact, he had smelled this smell before, and had been afraid of this moldy smell since he was a child.
--- p.14
He and she lay together on a narrow bed.
When they slept together since they were little, there was a strange unspoken agreement between the two of them that they would turn over, toss and turn, and curl up without their bodies ever touching.
Still, it wasn't uncomfortable.
Everything was familiar: the smell, the snoring, the sleeping position.
However, it wasn't all that comfortable.
It must be because we hadn't seen each other for so long and there were so many things I couldn't say.
--- p.20
He has been my bedmate since childhood.
We slept together as soon as we met.
I've had such a sweet sleep since the day we first met.
She loved him from the moment they first met.
The memory of our first meeting in bed was so sweet that a huge sugarcane field grew in my head.
Every time I was sick, I would cut it up and chew it thoroughly in one bite.
Then, sugar syrup flowed down the corners of her smiling lips.
She needed him whenever she couldn't sleep.
I missed him so much and wanted to see him.
She couldn't explain why.
Anyway, with him by my side, I could fall into a deep sleep for at least eight hours.
I was in a deep sleep and didn't wake up.
--- p.25
Tell me.
I will listen.
His mouth was a deep sea.
Finding the answer was as difficult as catching a fish.
But the sea accepted all the words of the other person.
Everything, without a word, generously.
And he kept all of his opponent's secrets.
--- p.34
I bought a lot of luxury items on my last trip.
The husband shook his head when he saw that.
“Are you planning to use all of this?”
Writing? What does writing mean? Is putting two green cauliflowers and a black chicken in here a practical use? Carrying around a Nobel Prize-winning novel or a complete collection of Goncourt Prize-winning novels is "writing"? She intended to bring all these luxury items to a television program, eliciting a slightly exaggerated sense of envy.
She knew very well that none of them were sincere.
But she herself will not reveal her true feelings.
Because truth is dangerous and fragile.
They just respond to each other kindly, like a lie on a film set.
--- p.43
She thought to herself.
What is the poet freezing to death for?
Tell me to go out and die.
When I was out and about at night during my freshman year of college, the person I was hanging out with was a male medical student.
He said he writes poetry and that he is the president of the poetry club.
Even without looking at the medical family background, it was clear that the family was very wealthy.
However, he was not a child with the vulgar temperament of a Moribae.
He later intended to become a doctor and poet.
My dream was to save people with medicine and at the same time write poetry and win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
“Come with me to Oslo to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature later.
Okay, promise.”
"Oslo? Isn't that a peace prize? Literature prizes are stock..."
She swallowed her own words.
The doctor poet's eyes blazed with anger.
She noticed very early on.
The fact that the doctor poet does not like to be pointed out by others.
--- p.152
The pangolin in the boy's arms was clearly very close to the child.
He seemed uninhibited.
The boy put the pangolin in the mud.
As soon as the pangolin touched the mud, it stretched out and began digging with its forelimbs and exploring something with its nose.
Then my whole body went into the mud and started writhing.
The pointed tail kicked up more mud.
All the scales on its body were covered in mud.
The boy laughed and followed suit into the mud.
The moonlight lifted the branches and illuminated the boy and the pangolin in the mud.
The director also laughed.
The director realized for the first time that moonlight could be brighter than artificial light.
The boy and the pangolin moved excitedly in the mud.
There was the sound of rain and an earthquake.
There were also tidal waves, the cries of birds, and the roar of leopards.
Laughter replaced language.
It was the most turbid and yet the purest language.
--- p.169
After marrying Zhang Haitao, I went to my mother-in-law's house to celebrate Lunar New Year.
As soon as I entered the room my husband used, I saw a pangolin.
The husband thought this was a way to please his newlywed wife.
But she felt like the room was haunted.
The walls were covered with mattress advertising posters she had taken when she was young.
The biggest one was the movie poster.
She and he were sleeping face to face on the bed, holding a pangolin, while countless other pangolins were writhing beside them, unable to sleep.
“I counted them.
“There are sixty-six pangolins in total on this poster.”
Sixty-six? She didn't count.
--- pp.202~203
One day, while I was debating whether or not to say goodbye to the landlady, a commotion broke out in the pineapple field.
The farmers came running out shouting.
The two men also followed him into the pineapple field.
During parachute training at a nearby military base, one of the parachutes landed in a pineapple field. The pineapples had hard crowns, and the paratrooper's buttocks ate the pineapple as it descended from the sky.
The soldier, whose whole body was covered in pineapple thorns, cried miserably in the field.
“This is a big problem.
“If the parachute rips, you will be punished and cannot go on vacation.”
She was looking at the paratrooper who was crying sadly.
The paratroopers in the pineapple fields looked like a beautiful abstract painting.
--- pp.221~222
When was the last time she got angry?
I couldn't pinpoint it exactly.
She rarely got angry.
If you're going to get angry, you need to be sincere.
She knew very well that she was not sincere and insincere.
She didn't want the truth.
Because the truth was too dangerous.
To get angry, you have to use every muscle in your body, and when your emotions are aroused, you can easily blurt out your true words.
--- p.237
The two drove around Taipei in a shit truck.
The city was a sleepless city.
She ate everything she wanted.
Even the low-quality soup.
After completing their mission to collect blood in the middle of the night, the two returned to his residence and continued to sleep.
Just before going to bed, Jang Yi-pan's face became clouded as a clear, red river appeared in his mind.
After making sure she was fast asleep, he took her blood-stained underwear to the bathroom.
At first, I didn't know, so I washed it with boiling water.
The blood stains were coagulated and did not come off easily.
I soaked it in cold water again for a while, then slowly scrubbed it with a toothbrush soaked in powdered detergent.
Only then did the blood stains scattered all over my underwear disappear.
--- p.248
The doctor said.
Ma'am, if it hurts, you can scream.
That way we can get a better understanding of your situation.
But she didn't make a sound.
She had a way of enduring any pain she encountered throughout her life.
Yes, I didn't scream.
Only when he was around did she make any sound.
Whenever she met him, she would set up a large tent in his voice.
The lion's roar and the bear's cry.
It was a festival of tigers' roars, horses' neighs, clowns' balloon popping, children's laughter, the cannon-like cheers and applause of the crowd, and the shrill screams of the circus.
Waiting a little longer, and waiting for the next person.
Waiting was an active, not passive, state.
It can be said to be a physical combat posture.
To sleep well, she had to wait for him.
--- p.12
Suddenly, a familiar smell drifted into the park, lingering and sticking to my nostrils.
It was close to a moldy smell.
J stood up, took a deep breath, and cheered.
The word "Petrichor" kept coming out from her red lips.
When he shook his head and said he didn't know what he was talking about, J wrote "Petrichor" on his palm.
After several failed attempts at typing the word into his phone, he finally found the correct spelling.
It was Petrichor.
He had never heard the Chinese equivalent of this word.
When plants encounter drought, the oil droplets they secrete seep into the mud or rocks, and when rain hits the dry land, the smell of these oils mixed with the rainwater is called petrichor.
In fact, he had smelled this smell before, and had been afraid of this moldy smell since he was a child.
--- p.14
He and she lay together on a narrow bed.
When they slept together since they were little, there was a strange unspoken agreement between the two of them that they would turn over, toss and turn, and curl up without their bodies ever touching.
Still, it wasn't uncomfortable.
Everything was familiar: the smell, the snoring, the sleeping position.
However, it wasn't all that comfortable.
It must be because we hadn't seen each other for so long and there were so many things I couldn't say.
--- p.20
He has been my bedmate since childhood.
We slept together as soon as we met.
I've had such a sweet sleep since the day we first met.
She loved him from the moment they first met.
The memory of our first meeting in bed was so sweet that a huge sugarcane field grew in my head.
Every time I was sick, I would cut it up and chew it thoroughly in one bite.
Then, sugar syrup flowed down the corners of her smiling lips.
She needed him whenever she couldn't sleep.
I missed him so much and wanted to see him.
She couldn't explain why.
Anyway, with him by my side, I could fall into a deep sleep for at least eight hours.
I was in a deep sleep and didn't wake up.
--- p.25
Tell me.
I will listen.
His mouth was a deep sea.
Finding the answer was as difficult as catching a fish.
But the sea accepted all the words of the other person.
Everything, without a word, generously.
And he kept all of his opponent's secrets.
--- p.34
I bought a lot of luxury items on my last trip.
The husband shook his head when he saw that.
“Are you planning to use all of this?”
Writing? What does writing mean? Is putting two green cauliflowers and a black chicken in here a practical use? Carrying around a Nobel Prize-winning novel or a complete collection of Goncourt Prize-winning novels is "writing"? She intended to bring all these luxury items to a television program, eliciting a slightly exaggerated sense of envy.
She knew very well that none of them were sincere.
But she herself will not reveal her true feelings.
Because truth is dangerous and fragile.
They just respond to each other kindly, like a lie on a film set.
--- p.43
She thought to herself.
What is the poet freezing to death for?
Tell me to go out and die.
When I was out and about at night during my freshman year of college, the person I was hanging out with was a male medical student.
He said he writes poetry and that he is the president of the poetry club.
Even without looking at the medical family background, it was clear that the family was very wealthy.
However, he was not a child with the vulgar temperament of a Moribae.
He later intended to become a doctor and poet.
My dream was to save people with medicine and at the same time write poetry and win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
“Come with me to Oslo to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature later.
Okay, promise.”
"Oslo? Isn't that a peace prize? Literature prizes are stock..."
She swallowed her own words.
The doctor poet's eyes blazed with anger.
She noticed very early on.
The fact that the doctor poet does not like to be pointed out by others.
--- p.152
The pangolin in the boy's arms was clearly very close to the child.
He seemed uninhibited.
The boy put the pangolin in the mud.
As soon as the pangolin touched the mud, it stretched out and began digging with its forelimbs and exploring something with its nose.
Then my whole body went into the mud and started writhing.
The pointed tail kicked up more mud.
All the scales on its body were covered in mud.
The boy laughed and followed suit into the mud.
The moonlight lifted the branches and illuminated the boy and the pangolin in the mud.
The director also laughed.
The director realized for the first time that moonlight could be brighter than artificial light.
The boy and the pangolin moved excitedly in the mud.
There was the sound of rain and an earthquake.
There were also tidal waves, the cries of birds, and the roar of leopards.
Laughter replaced language.
It was the most turbid and yet the purest language.
--- p.169
After marrying Zhang Haitao, I went to my mother-in-law's house to celebrate Lunar New Year.
As soon as I entered the room my husband used, I saw a pangolin.
The husband thought this was a way to please his newlywed wife.
But she felt like the room was haunted.
The walls were covered with mattress advertising posters she had taken when she was young.
The biggest one was the movie poster.
She and he were sleeping face to face on the bed, holding a pangolin, while countless other pangolins were writhing beside them, unable to sleep.
“I counted them.
“There are sixty-six pangolins in total on this poster.”
Sixty-six? She didn't count.
--- pp.202~203
One day, while I was debating whether or not to say goodbye to the landlady, a commotion broke out in the pineapple field.
The farmers came running out shouting.
The two men also followed him into the pineapple field.
During parachute training at a nearby military base, one of the parachutes landed in a pineapple field. The pineapples had hard crowns, and the paratrooper's buttocks ate the pineapple as it descended from the sky.
The soldier, whose whole body was covered in pineapple thorns, cried miserably in the field.
“This is a big problem.
“If the parachute rips, you will be punished and cannot go on vacation.”
She was looking at the paratrooper who was crying sadly.
The paratroopers in the pineapple fields looked like a beautiful abstract painting.
--- pp.221~222
When was the last time she got angry?
I couldn't pinpoint it exactly.
She rarely got angry.
If you're going to get angry, you need to be sincere.
She knew very well that she was not sincere and insincere.
She didn't want the truth.
Because the truth was too dangerous.
To get angry, you have to use every muscle in your body, and when your emotions are aroused, you can easily blurt out your true words.
--- p.237
The two drove around Taipei in a shit truck.
The city was a sleepless city.
She ate everything she wanted.
Even the low-quality soup.
After completing their mission to collect blood in the middle of the night, the two returned to his residence and continued to sleep.
Just before going to bed, Jang Yi-pan's face became clouded as a clear, red river appeared in his mind.
After making sure she was fast asleep, he took her blood-stained underwear to the bathroom.
At first, I didn't know, so I washed it with boiling water.
The blood stains were coagulated and did not come off easily.
I soaked it in cold water again for a while, then slowly scrubbed it with a toothbrush soaked in powdered detergent.
Only then did the blood stains scattered all over my underwear disappear.
--- p.248
The doctor said.
Ma'am, if it hurts, you can scream.
That way we can get a better understanding of your situation.
But she didn't make a sound.
She had a way of enduring any pain she encountered throughout her life.
Yes, I didn't scream.
Only when he was around did she make any sound.
Whenever she met him, she would set up a large tent in his voice.
The lion's roar and the bear's cry.
It was a festival of tigers' roars, horses' neighs, clowns' balloon popping, children's laughter, the cannon-like cheers and applause of the crowd, and the shrill screams of the circus.
--- p.327
Publisher's Review
Without you, I couldn't sleep
Would you like to go see the pangolins together?
Let's run away together from this evil-filled era, let's fall asleep together.
The heterosexual 'she' and the homosexual 'he' whose names are revealed only at the very end of the novel.
They first met on a filming set to cast child models for a mattress commercial during their childhood.
For some unknown reason, the two felt comfortable with each other from the moment they first met, and they acted out a sweet sleep in a mattress commercial, which became a huge success.
From then on, the two became inseparable for the rest of their lives.
Her father has disappeared somewhere, and her mother, who wanted to become a star herself but failed, is obsessed with gaining success and money through her daughter.
His father is a businessman and a debaucher who fails at everything he does, and his mother is affectionate to him, but she gets into violent fights with her cheating husband almost every day.
One day, 'his' father became obsessed with the idea of raising pangolins, a rare animal, and selling their scales as medicine, so he brought dozens of pangolins into the house on the mountain where they live.
But strangely, these pangolins only showed intimacy and trust to the young son, 'him', and a mattress commercial director who came to visit the house on the mountain and witnessed the young 'him' and the pangolins playing together became obsessed with the idea of making a movie about this.
So, 'he' and 'she' ended up appearing together not only in the mattress commercial but also in this movie featuring pangolins.
The film featuring the pangolin and the children is selected as an invitation to the Nantes Film Festival in France, and the young 'she' and 'he' decide to go to Nantes with the production crew.
However, the two children who went to catch the 'animal' with 'his' mother end up missing the time and cannot go to Nantes together.
Decades have passed and now he is middle-aged and living an isolated life in Paris.
He is unable to escape the great pain brought on by the death of his only love, his same-sex lover J.
Then, out of the blue, 'she' comes to his small apartment.
That's because the pangolin film they starred in as children has been restored in 4K and is being screened retrospectively at the Nantes Film Festival, and she and he were invited to the festival.
She has been the wife of a big-time politician and has given birth to several children. Although she is a washed-up movie star, she occasionally appears on TV entertainment programs and lives a decent life. However, there is one big problem.
I just can't get a proper night's sleep.
She bursts into his apartment under the pretext of a film festival and finally falls into a deep sleep with him, her childhood companion.
But that's not the only reason she came to see him.
A man and a woman set out together from Paris to Nantes. They have stories to tell and someone to find.
A path of unspeakable secrets and inexpressible pain
When I turned my head at the end, there were pangolin footprints all over it.
This is the second work by Tian Sihong to be introduced in Korea, and it is a work in which the author, as a gay man, puts his sexual identity at the forefront.
Through the gay protagonist, 'He', the author vividly depicts the hardships and sorrows experienced by sexual minorities from the 1980s, when conservative perceptions of sexual orientation were prevalent, to the present day, when same-sex marriage has been legalized.
In addition, the patriarchal pressure on women surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, and marriage, which were the main themes of the previous work, 『Land of Ghosts』, and the resulting excruciating pain are also recreated through 'her'.
While the previous work poured out multi-layered and polyphonic voices through the mouths of numerous characters, "The 67th Pangolin" explores mysteries and hidden secrets by going back and forth between the present and the past, centered around the decades-long relationship between just two people, "her" and "him."
What is the point of contact between the strong bond between him, who is gay, and her, who is heterosexual?
It's not a flat story like a hetero girl having a crush on a gay guy.
Their heart for each other arises from the pain and suffering of two people who have suffered severe wounds, understanding that pain and empathizing with it.
The pain he had to relieve through fleeting pleasures with countless men, the unknown humiliation and pain she had to endure as a woman and a famous star with a well-known face.
Also, because of this, countless contexts that made it inevitable for the two to stab and hurt each other are intertwined and become a knot of secrets, a spiral staircase that spins around and around, and the reader unravels the secrets and eventually comes to understand their choices and fate (or ill fate).
In the Chinese-speaking world, there is actually a word that refers to this relationship.
The word 'Gay Honey' refers to gay men who have deep friendships with heterosexual women.
'Gammy' is often used in a lighthearted way to refer to a gay friend with whom women can chat about the kind of things they might normally do between women, but it also refers to a man with whom women can share their worries that they can't easily confide in anyone else and keep their secrets, and a man with whom women can socialize without sexual tension.
The reverse is also true: unlike heterosexual men who refuse to understand gay people, women empathize with the struggles and hurts of their gay friends.
Tian Sihong says that he was inspired to write this novel after visiting the 'Pangolin from Taiwan' at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany and hearing a story between a heterosexual woman going through a difficult marriage with a gay man.
He also said that during his school days, he was a 'gay' to many female classmates.
In today's Taiwanese literary world, there is a term called "comrade literature" that contains stories of sexual minorities, and many sexual minority writers are active and receiving a lot of support, and Chen Sihong can be said to be a representative of this.
Taiwan was the first country in East Asia to legalize same-sex marriage and is a leader in the rights of sexual minorities. However, the stories contained in many of Taiwan's literary works vividly convey the traces of oppression and suffering that still remain.
The voices of women, who are supporters and friends of 'gamers', for improving human rights are still loud, and those who want to improve women's rights and the rights of sexual minorities are joining forces and working actively in the literary world, society, and politics.
While "Land of Ghosts" captures the eerie yet familiar atmosphere of a story set in the desolate and remote Taiwanese countryside, "The 67th Pangolin" begins in Paris in autumn and ends on the outskirts of Nantes.
The novel is a story that takes place entirely on the road.
There are people who leave, there are people who are left behind and abandoned and hurt, there are people who set out on a journey to find someone, and there are those who accompany them.
New relationships emerge from old connections, and a fleeting word or a brief clue can lead to another journey.
Just as "Land of Ghosts" is extremely literary yet possesses the device of a masterpiece mystery, "The 67th Pangolin" also quickly and abruptly shifts time and space through the characters' emotions and memories, and like an intricate clockwork, it fits together the puzzle pieces and races toward the end.
Like "Land of Ghosts," "The 67th Pangolin" is a work that demonstrates the power of its powerful structure, making you turn to the next page even after reading it all the way to the end.
The outstanding storytelling, the writing style that brings both tears and laughter, and the heart-wrenching emotion are still there.
The reason Tian Sihong's works are read and acclaimed not only in Taiwan but around the world is likely due to his talent for captivating readers with his unpredictable compositions while simultaneously combining universal humor and a moving message.
Author's Note
A close friend of mine in Berlin asked me if I knew that there was a pangolin from Taiwan in the Leipzig Zoo.
The guys flew in from Taiwan, and unlike humans, they don't experience jet lag, so they spend their entire lives in Taiwan at the Leipzig Zoo.
I took the train and took a walk to the Leipzig Zoo to meet the guys.
Hello, jet-lagged pangolins, how are you?
I'm from Taiwan too.
After finishing the greetings, my eyes were drawn to a couple.
They didn't seem like lovers or a married couple.
There was an invisible tension in the interaction of bodies.
I listened to the conversation between the two people.
It was a story about imagining them as pangolins digging caves with their claws.
I came to know the situation of the two men and women.
The man was gay and the woman was trapped in an unpleasant heterosexual marriage.
The two people who grew up together still depended on each other more than others.
There is a secret between the two, but they never say it out loud.
I had to construct these secrets through fiction and imagination.
In this work, the woman and the man promised to go to Nantes since they were young, but even as they grew older and walked together, they never reached there.
Isn't this "unattainable" aspect of life one of the things we should cherish? _Cheon Si-hong
Translator's Note
'He' is a comrade and 'her' is 'Gay Honey'.
The novel's main narrative background is the unconventional relationship between a woman, 'her', and her gay friend, 'he', who is gay.
In Chinese, 'mi (蜜)' is a word that means a close and affectionate friend, and it signifies the most ideal relationship that people can enjoy.
This is the sweetest state of relationship that people can realize and enjoy.
This novel proves this etymological meaning through the relationship between 'she' and 'he' who understand each other, project their feelings, know each other better than anyone else, and help each other the best.
Although 'she' and 'he' are not lovers, they perfectly demonstrate Saint-Exupéry's proposition that 'they are not looking at each other, but holding hands and looking in the same direction together.'
The possibility that the relationship between these two people could be much more beautiful and closer to the essence of humanity than the pretentious, universal relationships that this society recognizes.
Isn't that the important meaning this novel presents? _Kim Tae-seong
Would you like to go see the pangolins together?
Let's run away together from this evil-filled era, let's fall asleep together.
The heterosexual 'she' and the homosexual 'he' whose names are revealed only at the very end of the novel.
They first met on a filming set to cast child models for a mattress commercial during their childhood.
For some unknown reason, the two felt comfortable with each other from the moment they first met, and they acted out a sweet sleep in a mattress commercial, which became a huge success.
From then on, the two became inseparable for the rest of their lives.
Her father has disappeared somewhere, and her mother, who wanted to become a star herself but failed, is obsessed with gaining success and money through her daughter.
His father is a businessman and a debaucher who fails at everything he does, and his mother is affectionate to him, but she gets into violent fights with her cheating husband almost every day.
One day, 'his' father became obsessed with the idea of raising pangolins, a rare animal, and selling their scales as medicine, so he brought dozens of pangolins into the house on the mountain where they live.
But strangely, these pangolins only showed intimacy and trust to the young son, 'him', and a mattress commercial director who came to visit the house on the mountain and witnessed the young 'him' and the pangolins playing together became obsessed with the idea of making a movie about this.
So, 'he' and 'she' ended up appearing together not only in the mattress commercial but also in this movie featuring pangolins.
The film featuring the pangolin and the children is selected as an invitation to the Nantes Film Festival in France, and the young 'she' and 'he' decide to go to Nantes with the production crew.
However, the two children who went to catch the 'animal' with 'his' mother end up missing the time and cannot go to Nantes together.
Decades have passed and now he is middle-aged and living an isolated life in Paris.
He is unable to escape the great pain brought on by the death of his only love, his same-sex lover J.
Then, out of the blue, 'she' comes to his small apartment.
That's because the pangolin film they starred in as children has been restored in 4K and is being screened retrospectively at the Nantes Film Festival, and she and he were invited to the festival.
She has been the wife of a big-time politician and has given birth to several children. Although she is a washed-up movie star, she occasionally appears on TV entertainment programs and lives a decent life. However, there is one big problem.
I just can't get a proper night's sleep.
She bursts into his apartment under the pretext of a film festival and finally falls into a deep sleep with him, her childhood companion.
But that's not the only reason she came to see him.
A man and a woman set out together from Paris to Nantes. They have stories to tell and someone to find.
A path of unspeakable secrets and inexpressible pain
When I turned my head at the end, there were pangolin footprints all over it.
This is the second work by Tian Sihong to be introduced in Korea, and it is a work in which the author, as a gay man, puts his sexual identity at the forefront.
Through the gay protagonist, 'He', the author vividly depicts the hardships and sorrows experienced by sexual minorities from the 1980s, when conservative perceptions of sexual orientation were prevalent, to the present day, when same-sex marriage has been legalized.
In addition, the patriarchal pressure on women surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, and marriage, which were the main themes of the previous work, 『Land of Ghosts』, and the resulting excruciating pain are also recreated through 'her'.
While the previous work poured out multi-layered and polyphonic voices through the mouths of numerous characters, "The 67th Pangolin" explores mysteries and hidden secrets by going back and forth between the present and the past, centered around the decades-long relationship between just two people, "her" and "him."
What is the point of contact between the strong bond between him, who is gay, and her, who is heterosexual?
It's not a flat story like a hetero girl having a crush on a gay guy.
Their heart for each other arises from the pain and suffering of two people who have suffered severe wounds, understanding that pain and empathizing with it.
The pain he had to relieve through fleeting pleasures with countless men, the unknown humiliation and pain she had to endure as a woman and a famous star with a well-known face.
Also, because of this, countless contexts that made it inevitable for the two to stab and hurt each other are intertwined and become a knot of secrets, a spiral staircase that spins around and around, and the reader unravels the secrets and eventually comes to understand their choices and fate (or ill fate).
In the Chinese-speaking world, there is actually a word that refers to this relationship.
The word 'Gay Honey' refers to gay men who have deep friendships with heterosexual women.
'Gammy' is often used in a lighthearted way to refer to a gay friend with whom women can chat about the kind of things they might normally do between women, but it also refers to a man with whom women can share their worries that they can't easily confide in anyone else and keep their secrets, and a man with whom women can socialize without sexual tension.
The reverse is also true: unlike heterosexual men who refuse to understand gay people, women empathize with the struggles and hurts of their gay friends.
Tian Sihong says that he was inspired to write this novel after visiting the 'Pangolin from Taiwan' at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany and hearing a story between a heterosexual woman going through a difficult marriage with a gay man.
He also said that during his school days, he was a 'gay' to many female classmates.
In today's Taiwanese literary world, there is a term called "comrade literature" that contains stories of sexual minorities, and many sexual minority writers are active and receiving a lot of support, and Chen Sihong can be said to be a representative of this.
Taiwan was the first country in East Asia to legalize same-sex marriage and is a leader in the rights of sexual minorities. However, the stories contained in many of Taiwan's literary works vividly convey the traces of oppression and suffering that still remain.
The voices of women, who are supporters and friends of 'gamers', for improving human rights are still loud, and those who want to improve women's rights and the rights of sexual minorities are joining forces and working actively in the literary world, society, and politics.
While "Land of Ghosts" captures the eerie yet familiar atmosphere of a story set in the desolate and remote Taiwanese countryside, "The 67th Pangolin" begins in Paris in autumn and ends on the outskirts of Nantes.
The novel is a story that takes place entirely on the road.
There are people who leave, there are people who are left behind and abandoned and hurt, there are people who set out on a journey to find someone, and there are those who accompany them.
New relationships emerge from old connections, and a fleeting word or a brief clue can lead to another journey.
Just as "Land of Ghosts" is extremely literary yet possesses the device of a masterpiece mystery, "The 67th Pangolin" also quickly and abruptly shifts time and space through the characters' emotions and memories, and like an intricate clockwork, it fits together the puzzle pieces and races toward the end.
Like "Land of Ghosts," "The 67th Pangolin" is a work that demonstrates the power of its powerful structure, making you turn to the next page even after reading it all the way to the end.
The outstanding storytelling, the writing style that brings both tears and laughter, and the heart-wrenching emotion are still there.
The reason Tian Sihong's works are read and acclaimed not only in Taiwan but around the world is likely due to his talent for captivating readers with his unpredictable compositions while simultaneously combining universal humor and a moving message.
Author's Note
A close friend of mine in Berlin asked me if I knew that there was a pangolin from Taiwan in the Leipzig Zoo.
The guys flew in from Taiwan, and unlike humans, they don't experience jet lag, so they spend their entire lives in Taiwan at the Leipzig Zoo.
I took the train and took a walk to the Leipzig Zoo to meet the guys.
Hello, jet-lagged pangolins, how are you?
I'm from Taiwan too.
After finishing the greetings, my eyes were drawn to a couple.
They didn't seem like lovers or a married couple.
There was an invisible tension in the interaction of bodies.
I listened to the conversation between the two people.
It was a story about imagining them as pangolins digging caves with their claws.
I came to know the situation of the two men and women.
The man was gay and the woman was trapped in an unpleasant heterosexual marriage.
The two people who grew up together still depended on each other more than others.
There is a secret between the two, but they never say it out loud.
I had to construct these secrets through fiction and imagination.
In this work, the woman and the man promised to go to Nantes since they were young, but even as they grew older and walked together, they never reached there.
Isn't this "unattainable" aspect of life one of the things we should cherish? _Cheon Si-hong
Translator's Note
'He' is a comrade and 'her' is 'Gay Honey'.
The novel's main narrative background is the unconventional relationship between a woman, 'her', and her gay friend, 'he', who is gay.
In Chinese, 'mi (蜜)' is a word that means a close and affectionate friend, and it signifies the most ideal relationship that people can enjoy.
This is the sweetest state of relationship that people can realize and enjoy.
This novel proves this etymological meaning through the relationship between 'she' and 'he' who understand each other, project their feelings, know each other better than anyone else, and help each other the best.
Although 'she' and 'he' are not lovers, they perfectly demonstrate Saint-Exupéry's proposition that 'they are not looking at each other, but holding hands and looking in the same direction together.'
The possibility that the relationship between these two people could be much more beautiful and closer to the essence of humanity than the pretentious, universal relationships that this society recognizes.
Isn't that the important meaning this novel presents? _Kim Tae-seong
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: September 5, 2024
- Format: Paperback book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 492 pages | 140*210*30mm
- ISBN13: 9788937428067
- ISBN10: 8937428067
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