Sep 3
9月3日
Montalbano Family Theatre, L8
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
About the Program
Sexual trauma and the #MeToo Movement are not merely modern phenomena. They have always been part of our history, but it is not easy to hear the voices of victims. Writer Nathalie CHANG (CHANG Yi- Hsum) hopes to engage with current discourse on these issues through an examination and analysis of the role of literature.
Toson Shimazaki pioneered Japanese naturalism. Readers who appreciate the delicate compassion for humanity in his works likely were deeply shaken by his novel New Life. This is because the novel was inspired by the author’s real-life sexual assault of his own niece. The issues exposed in the novel persist to this day. South Korean author Kim Sum, through her writings on the topic of “comfort women,” has exposed how the “silence” surrounding trauma harms both physical and mental health. And sometimes, the perpetrators are “people of conscience” who are “ahead of their time”—this stark contrast often makes it difficult to confront the issue.
Using her own work, I’m Leaving, published in Taiwan, as an example, Nathalie CHANG (CHANG Yi- Hsum) presents new perspectives on the relationship between literature and lived experiences.
Content Advisory: This talk includes discussions of sexual trauma, sexual violence, and incest.
Nathalie CHANG (CHANG Yi- Hsum) was born in Muzha District, Taipei City.
She published a true story in Reader’s Digest and several fictional stories in national newspapers during her adolescence. Not Long in Love, Her-History of Sex, and I’m Leaving are among her most famous novels, with I’m Leaving selected as one of the most representative works of Taiwanese literature.
Although she is considered a queer novelist who advocates for LGBT+ rights, her novels also present a critique of identity politics, whether based on gender or national identity. Her work explores themes such as sexual trauma, language, and the fate of Taiwan with impressive complexity.
She spent her childhood in a family that held great expectations for democracy in Taiwan. This firsthand experience and childhood observations preserved the intimacy of popular political action: how did major events during martial law, such as the Formosa Incident, the Chen Wen-cheng Incident, and the Lin Family Massacre, affect children's development? Chang goes beyond the common notion of "remembering history," emphasizing how the lack of public memory brings cruelty and injustice to various victims.
She won the Golden Tripod Award for Best Column Writing for her work "All the Grownups Who Once Bored Me." She holds a Master's degree in Film Studies from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris and has written for the Film Appreciation Journal and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature. Two Canadians have greatly influenced her: writer Evelyn Lau and pianist Glenn Gould.
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