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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Sixteen exquisite stories exploring recent Chinese migration to Australia and elsewhere, exploring intergenerational and interracial relationships, the search for meaning, and the effects of isolation and the inability to express oneself in a second language. Best-selling author, Debra Adelaide, says Isabelle Li's prose is powerful, exquisite and finely tuned, and each story draws us deeper into the complex emotional and cultural dilemmas of characters who are solitary, sensitive, perceptive and powerless, sometimes all at once. 'What does it take to master a second language, to be so skilled in that language that you're published in it? Chinese/Australian writer and translator Isabelle Li reminds us that learning to love an adopted language does not come without its struggles.' ABC Radio National' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: To Michael
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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From ‘Unreliable Man’ to ‘True Lover’ : Shifting Images of Chinese Men in Writing by Chinese Australian Women Writers
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 65 no. 2 2020; (p. 167-182) 'In 1994, Chinese writer Shi Guoying made the following assertion in a Sydney Chinese-language magazine: ‘Western men who are excellent love-makers are everywhere. Out of every ten Western men, at least eight are terrific and only two are average. Out of every ten Chinese men, two are average and eight are pathetic’ (‘Women’ 146–147). Employing a combined racial and sexual discourse, she denounces her male compatriots as physically inferior as well as temperamentally unsuited to fulfil a woman’s needs. Not surprisingly, her article sparked a fierce debate in the Chinese-language press, many accusing her of perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes of Chinese inferiority (see Zhong ‘Masks’). However, Shi persisted in her attack. In her novella ‘Mistaken Love’ (错爱), first published in 1999, she illustrates her assertion through the portrayal of a Frenchman who is sexually more competent and more caring than his Chinese counterparts.' (Introduction) -
All In That Space : On Asian Australian Writers
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , April 2018;'As the date of the twenty-first anniversary of my arrival in Australia approaches, I acutely sense the space between ‘Asian’ and ‘Australian’ in ‘Asian Australian’, which is how I refer to myself. This space divides not only two words but two worlds, a fact that I, as a bilingual writer and translator of more than two decades, know only too well. Crossing this space is a process of positioning, consciously adopting and abandoning a myriad of reference points between common perceptions of what it means to be ‘Asian’ and ‘Australian’.' (Introduction)
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The Aristotelian Questions
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 62 no. 2 2017; (p. 231-240)'A zebra gazing into the river asks himself, 'Am I a white horse with black stripes of a black horse with white stripes?' I put a similar question: am I a migrant who happens to be a writer or a writer who happens to be a migrant? The answers have implications, both 'for whom' I write and 'as who', and therefore for my artistic vision.' (Introduction)
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Isabelle Li, A Chinese Affair
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 76 no. 3 2017; 'One of the most striking elements of Isabelle Li’s A Chinese Affair is its sense of melancholy. Her inaugural short story collection is comprised of sixteen subtly oppressive tales, divided into four suites; nearly all are starkly told, and haunted by the weight of what remains unarticulated. There is an authorial confidence to A Chinese Affair that belies its existence as a debut collection; showing a restraint that tends to elude many (younger) writers. In fact, I suspect that the collection as a whole may prove to be understated to the point of frustration for many readers: many of the tales are devoid of clear resolutions, startlingly opaque on even the most basic level of narrative...' (Introduction) -
Gay Lynch Reviews A Chinese Affair by Isabelle Li
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , April no. 20 2017;
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story 'In 2016, I met short story writer and poetry translator Isabelle Li at the inaugural Australian Short Story Festival in Perth. In conversation she conveys a graceful attentiveness. She tells me that she values the Chinese artistic tradition of training and craftsmanship and hopes her debut collection of stories will appeal to a broad readership.' (Introduction)
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Isabelle Li, A Chinese Affair
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 16 July 2016;
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story 'There are 16 stories in Isabelle Li’s uneven debut collection, A Chinese Affair. Most have been published previously in literary journals and anthologies. The best are moody and slow-burning with moments of startling revelation, while others dawdle in exposition or oddly dreamlike dialogue. ...' -
A Chinese Affair Review : Isabelle Li's Tales of Chinese Migration to Australia
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 2 September 2016;
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story -
Review : A Chinese Affair
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Reading , September 2016; (p. 35)
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story -
[Review] Isabelle Li, A Chinese Affair
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 9 no. 1 2016;
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story -
Gay Lynch Reviews A Chinese Affair by Isabelle Li
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , April no. 20 2017;
— Review of A Chinese Affair 2016 selected work short story 'In 2016, I met short story writer and poetry translator Isabelle Li at the inaugural Australian Short Story Festival in Perth. In conversation she conveys a graceful attentiveness. She tells me that she values the Chinese artistic tradition of training and craftsmanship and hopes her debut collection of stories will appeal to a broad readership.' (Introduction) -
Isabelle Li, A Chinese Affair
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 76 no. 3 2017; 'One of the most striking elements of Isabelle Li’s A Chinese Affair is its sense of melancholy. Her inaugural short story collection is comprised of sixteen subtly oppressive tales, divided into four suites; nearly all are starkly told, and haunted by the weight of what remains unarticulated. There is an authorial confidence to A Chinese Affair that belies its existence as a debut collection; showing a restraint that tends to elude many (younger) writers. In fact, I suspect that the collection as a whole may prove to be understated to the point of frustration for many readers: many of the tales are devoid of clear resolutions, startlingly opaque on even the most basic level of narrative...' (Introduction) -
The Aristotelian Questions
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 62 no. 2 2017; (p. 231-240)'A zebra gazing into the river asks himself, 'Am I a white horse with black stripes of a black horse with white stripes?' I put a similar question: am I a migrant who happens to be a writer or a writer who happens to be a migrant? The answers have implications, both 'for whom' I write and 'as who', and therefore for my artistic vision.' (Introduction)
-
All In That Space : On Asian Australian Writers
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , April 2018;'As the date of the twenty-first anniversary of my arrival in Australia approaches, I acutely sense the space between ‘Asian’ and ‘Australian’ in ‘Asian Australian’, which is how I refer to myself. This space divides not only two words but two worlds, a fact that I, as a bilingual writer and translator of more than two decades, know only too well. Crossing this space is a process of positioning, consciously adopting and abandoning a myriad of reference points between common perceptions of what it means to be ‘Asian’ and ‘Australian’.' (Introduction)
-
From ‘Unreliable Man’ to ‘True Lover’ : Shifting Images of Chinese Men in Writing by Chinese Australian Women Writers
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 65 no. 2 2020; (p. 167-182) 'In 1994, Chinese writer Shi Guoying made the following assertion in a Sydney Chinese-language magazine: ‘Western men who are excellent love-makers are everywhere. Out of every ten Western men, at least eight are terrific and only two are average. Out of every ten Chinese men, two are average and eight are pathetic’ (‘Women’ 146–147). Employing a combined racial and sexual discourse, she denounces her male compatriots as physically inferior as well as temperamentally unsuited to fulfil a woman’s needs. Not surprisingly, her article sparked a fierce debate in the Chinese-language press, many accusing her of perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes of Chinese inferiority (see Zhong ‘Masks’). However, Shi persisted in her attack. In her novella ‘Mistaken Love’ (错爱), first published in 1999, she illustrates her assertion through the portrayal of a Frenchman who is sexually more competent and more caring than his Chinese counterparts.' (Introduction)
