| Translator | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Pages | 256 |
| US ISBN | 978-1-64286-114-3 |
| UK ISBN | 978-1-912987-35-1 |
| Ebook ISBN | 978-1-64286-116-7 |
| Region | |
| US publication date | May 24, 2022 |
| UK publication date | June 2, 2022 |
| Price | $17.99, £13.99 |
Solo Dance
$17.99
An important queer voice from East Asia’s millennial generation
Chō Norie, twenty-seven and originally from Taiwan, is working an office job in Tokyo. While her colleagues worry about the economy, life-insurance policies, marriage, and children, she is forced to keep her unconventional life hidden—including her sexuality and the violent attack that prompted her move to Japan. There is also her unusual fascination with death: she knows from personal experience how devastating death can be, but for her it is also creative fuel. Solo Dance depicts the painful coming of age of a gay person in Taiwan and corporate Japan. This striking debut is an intimate and powerful account of a search for hope after trauma.
The translation and publication of this book would not have been possible without the generous support of The Japan Foundation.
Details
Author
Li Kotomi
Li Kotomi is a bilingual Japanese-Chinese writer, translator, and interpreter. She was born in Taiwan in 1989 and moved to Japan in 2013… Read more
Book Club Questions
Book Club Questions
- Li Kotomi’s own life mirrors that of the protagonist in several ways. To what extent do you view Solo Dance as autobiographical?
- LGBT themes are an important part of Solo Dance and of Li Kotomi’s writing more generally. Did anything surprise you about the representation of LGBT culture in Taiwan and Japan?
- We learn the various names the protagonist goes by in different contexts by way of the dialogue—Chō Norie, Zhao Yingmei, Zhao Jihui, and others—but the narrator only ever refers to her as “she.” Why do you think this is?
- The protagonist’s move from Taiwan to Japan is another key aspect of the novel, along with the theme of travel more generally. Do you feel that you get a clear picture of the differences between Japanese and Taiwanese culture and society in the novel?
- The protagonist seems haunted by trauma from her past—her rape, and the death of Danchen. Do you think she goes some way towards overcoming this trauma by the end of the novel?
- Why do you think the protagonist seems to take out her despair on Xiaoxue after being raped? Do you recognize this impulse to push people away in response to trauma?
- What effect does the use of the first-person diary format in Chapter 12 have? Why do you think it was chosen for this part of the narrative?
- What do you make of Kaori’s negative reaction when the protagonist opens up about her rape and her past mental health issues, and Yixuan’s attempt to “expose” these secrets to the world? Do you think a stronger stigma surrounds these issues in Japan than elsewhere, or is this dynamic more universal?
- What do you make of the protagonist’s journey at the end of the novel? Does it make sense to you that she planned such an elaborate prelude to her death? What about the locations she chose to visit?
- What’s your reaction to the character of Caroline, whom the protagonist meets in San Francisco? Why are the two so strongly drawn to each other, and does the protagonist’s response to Caroline’s planned suicide make sense to you?
- What do you think about the arrival of Xiaoxue and Xiaozhu at the end of the novel, and the protagonist’s change of heart in response to their appearance?
- Various Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese writers are referenced in the book as sources of inspiration for the protagonist—Qiu Miaojin, Osamu Dazai, Yukio Mishima, Haruki Murakami, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Sanmao. Do you see connections with Li Kotomi’s own style in the work of any of these writers? Or, if you didn’t know these writers before, are you eager to find out more about them now?
Translator Video
Translator Video
Book Trailer
Book Trailer
PEN America Reading
PEN America Reading
Press Quotes
Press Quotes
Praise for Li Kotomi
“With her powerful voice, Kotomi blows a fresh, new breeze into the often introverted world of contemporary Japanese literature.”
Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Praise for Solo Dance
“This poetic fable about finding one’s place in the world and escaping the pull of death is ambitious and thought-provoking.”
The Japan Times
“It takes only a moment for the idea of death to spark in a heart pushed to its limits. All that remains is that spark and the deep breathing of our narrator who has had to live in the dark. The vicious pain that squirms beautifully at the heart of this novel holds an incredible power, perhaps becoming a salvation for the reader.”
SAYAKA MURATA, author of Convenience Store Woman
“Solo Dance is a moving character study about the consequences of homophobia, and the resilience that’s required to survive it.”
Foreword Reviews
“Elegantly translated from the Japanese by Arthur Reiji Morris … Solo Dance’s depiction of mental illness is powerfully affecting and memorable. … The writing is beautiful and lyrical in its depictions of the shared sadness and love of Xiaoxue and Yingmei.”
Words Without Borders
“Solo Dance isn’t a hopeful book, at least in the most conventional sense. It is, perhaps, an uplifting one in its quiet reassurance that the self matters. It is an important book by a queer author in Japan who isn’t ethnically Japanese tackling identity and mental health. And it is, certainly, a work of art as both a book and a translation.”
Asian Review of Books
“Stunning and traumatic in its honesty. … Norie’s story is a powerful representation of the countless queer female voices silenced by systemic oppression.”
Asia Media International
“Solo Dance encourages readers to consider the power of literature in shaping life from the margins of society … Li’s work may provide readers with the necessary sense of inspiration, representation and reason to continue living … A poignant queer work … Morris captures Li’s lyricism, providing a sense of beauty.”
Xtra
“Solo Dance has no illusions that in the present day, the implicit and explicit violence of homophobia still leaves lasting scars on young queer people. But, ultimately, this is a book about being able to integrate one’s trauma in a world where acceptance, while not universal, can be found. Being queer and Asian continues to be a fraught reality for so many people. But in spite of all the pain and trauma, Solo Dance is a testament to the possibility of a path forward that exists for queer Asians today. ”
Autostraddle
“Solo Dance is not just a novel about the life of the author, but the intensity that gave birth to her volatile spirit and way with words.”
FictionTalk
“Solo Dance offers so much empathy and understanding to LGBTQ+ readers and those of us who struggle with mental illness. It’s a book about paranoia, depression, fear, bigotry, but also rebellion and retribution.”
Books and Bao
“I found Solo Dance engrossing and read it quickly, especially drawn in by the protagonist’s use of literature to explore self and culture and the exploration of queer life for an outsider in a country.”
Fiendfully Reading
“This book is carried by the literary traditions which the author has taken into her very being, along with an energy fostered by the breaking of cultural and linguistic barriers.”
KAN NOZAKI
“In an era where everyone is perhaps too connected, we are forced to consider the importance of the solitude, not loneliness, that is depicted in this novel.”
ALISA IWAKAWA, Gunzo
“Her knowledge of Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese literature, as well as the inevitability of her becoming a writer is evident in her work, and I look forward to her future career.”
MASAAKI TAKEDA, Shunkan Shincho
“A striking debut from a young Taiwanese author, which follows the struggles and loneliness of a young woman, from her secret high-school love, to the incident that drastically changes the course of her life, and her eventual journey and escape to Japan.”
Kodansha, Japanese publisher
Why You Should Read This Book
Why You Should Read This Book
“For me, all the pain that Chō experiences is very real. That isn’t to say her experiences are based on my own, but I fully understand her suffering, and the only way for me to process and liberate it was by writing this novel. Since Solo Dance, I have published other books, a number of which have gone on to be nominated for and win awards. But no matter how highly rated these books may be, Solo Dance, my first novel, will always remain a precious and irreplaceable book to me.”
LI KOTOMI, the author
“Most books are narrated in the first-person, or in the third-person with a named protagonist, but this is the first work I’ve translated where the main character is referred to only as ‘she’ throughout almost all of the narrative. Our main character has many names, many faces, yet ‘she’ still remains the same person, no matter her struggles. It was a challenge to translate this aspect smoothly into English, a language which is ever so reliant on pronouns, but I hope that it will encourage the reader to think about our names and their relationship with our identities.”
ARTHUR REIJI MORRIS, the translator
“Li Kotomi is an extremely talented young author who straddles two languages and cultures: born in Chinese-speaking Taiwan she moved to Japan in her adolescence and started writing prize-winning literature in her newly acquired language. There is much to love about this powerful debut: the insight she offers into youth culture in both Japan and Taiwan, a look at the gay rights movement in these countries, as well as the protagonist’s insatiable passion for books and melancholic obsession with death. I am happy and proud to introduce this unique new voice to an English-language audience.”
JUDITH UYTERLINDE, the publisher