Last Words from Montmartre (New York Review Books (Paperback))

An NYRB Classics Original When the pioneering Taiwanese novelist Qiu Miaojin committed suicide in 1995 at age twenty-six, she left behind her unpublished masterpiece, Last Words from Montmartre . Unfolding through a series of letters written by an unnamed narrator, Last Words tells the story of a passionate relationship between two young women—their sexual awakening, their gradual breakup, and the devastating aftermath of their broken love. In a style that veers between extremes, from self-deprecation to pathos, compulsive repetition to rhapsodic musings, reticence to vulnerability, Qiu’s genre-bending novel is at once a psychological thriller, a sublime romance, and the author’s own suicide note. The letters (which, Qiu tells us, can be read in any order) leap between Paris, Taipei, and Tokyo. They display wrenching insights into what it means to live between cultures, languages, and genders—until the genderless character Zoë appears, and the narrator’s spiritual and physical identity is transformed. As powerfully raw and transcendent as Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask , Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther , and Theresa Cha’s Dictée , to name but a few, Last Words from Montmartre proves Qiu Miaojin to be one of the finest experimentalists and modernist Chinese-language writers of our generation. An Nyrb Classics Original Last Words From Montmartre Is A Novel In Letters That Narrates The Gradual Dissolution Of A Relationship Between Two Lovers And, Ultimately, The Complete Unraveling Of The Narrator. In A Voice That Veers Between Extremes, From Self-deprecation To Hubris, Compulsive Repetition To Sublime Reflection, Reticence To Vulnerability, It Can Be Read As Both The Author's Masterpiece And A Labor Of Love, As Well As Her Own Suicide Note. Last Words From Montmartre, Written Just As Internet Culture Was About To Explode, Is Also A Kind Of Farewell To Letters. The Opening Note Urges Us To Read The Letters In Any Order. Each Letter Unfolds As A Chapter, The Narrator Writing From Paris To Her Lover In Taipei And To Family And Friends In Taiwan And Tokyo. The Book Opens With The Death Of A Beloved Pet Rabbit And Closes With A Portentous Expression Of The Narrator's Resolve To Kill Herself. In Between We Follow Qiu's Protagonist Into The Streets Of Montmartre; Into Descriptions Of Affairs With Both Men And Women, French And Taiwanese; Into Rhapsodic Musings On The Works Of Theodoros Angelopoulos And Andrei Tarkovsky; And Into Wrenching And Clear-eyed Outlines Of What It Means To Exist Not Only Between Cultures But, To A Certain Extent, Between And Among Genders. More Confessions Of A Mask Than Well Of Loneliness, The Novel Marks Qiu As One Of The Finest Experimentalist And Modernist Chinese-language Writers Of Our Generation-- Qiu Miaojin ; Translated And With An Introduction By Ari Larissa Heinrich. Originally Published In 1969. "An NYRB Classics Original Last Words from Montmartre is a novel in letters that narrates the gradual dissolution of a relationship between two lovers and, ultimately, the complete unraveling of the narrator. In a voice that veers between extremes, from self-deprecation to hubris, compulsive repetition to sublime reflection, reticence to vulnerability, it can be read as both the author's masterpiece and a labor of love, as well as her own suicide note. Last Words from Montmartre, written just as Internet culture was about to explode, is also a kind of farewell to letters. The opening note urges us to read the letters in any order. Each letter unfolds as a chapter, the narrator writing from Paris to her lover in Taipei and to family and friends in Taiwan and Tokyo. The book opens with the death of a beloved pet rabbit and closes with a portentous expression of the narrator's resolve to kill herself. In between we follow Qiu's protagonist into the streets of Montmartre; into descriptions of affairs with both men and women, French and Taiwanese; into rhapsodic musings on the works of Theodoros Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky; and into wrenching and clear-eyed outlines of what it means to exist not only between cultures but, to a certain extent, between and among genders. More Confessions of a Mask than Well of Loneliness, the novel marks Qiu as one of the finest experimentalist and modernist Chinese-language writers of our generation"-- Provided by publisher Roman in briefvorm over de gepassioneerde relatie tussen twee Aziatische vrouwen en het verwoestende effect daarvan op de auteur in 1995