Lin Bai

{{Infobox writer  | name = Lin Bai | image = 林白 20240114.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}} | birth_place = Beiliu, China | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer | nationality = Chinese | period = 1990s-present | genre = Fiction, Autobiography, Poetry | notableworks = | influences = | influenced = | website = }} '''Lin Bai''', born '''Lin Baiwei''' ({{zh|c=林白}}; born in 1958), is a Chinese avant-garde writer and poet.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Gupta|first=Suman|date=2008-08-22|title=Li Rui, Mo Yan, Yan Lianke and Lin Bai|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02690050802205233|journal=Wasafiri|volume=23|issue=3|pages=28–36|language=en|doi=10.1080/02690050802205233|s2cid=161993556|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="LeeHo20032">{{cite book|author1=Lily Xiao Hong Lee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&pg=PA327|title=中國婦女傳記詞典: The Twentieth Century, 1912–2000|author2=Clara Wing-chung Ho|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7656-0798-0|pages=327–|accessdate=31 December 2012}}</ref> Her best known works deal with female homoeroticism in post-Mao China and are also known for being very personal and autobiographical.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Edward Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rLBvrlKI7QC&pg=PA468|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture|date=2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-77716-2|language=en}}</ref> Lin Bai is famously known for ''A War of One's Own'' and ''The Seat on the Veranda.''<ref name=":0" /> The author won the Chinese Literature Media Award for her novel ''Records of Women Gossiping''.<ref name=":0" />

==Biography== Lin Bai was born in Beiliu County, Guangxi Province in 1958.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /><ref name=":2" /> She spent her childhood in a small town in Beiliu.<ref name=":2" /> Her father died when she was three.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> At the age of 17, she started doing poetry after being sent to the countryside as an educated youth.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> After passing the college entrance examination in 1977, Lin Bai studied library science at Wuhan University from 1978 to 1982.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> She worked as a librarian at the Guangxi Provincial Library after graduating.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> From 1985 to 1990, she worked as an editor and screenwriter at the Guangxi Film Studio.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> Her time in film production influenced her fiction writing.<ref name="LeeHo20032" />

Lin Bai moved to Beijing in the early 1990s to work for the newspaper ''Chinese Cultural Forum'' (Zhongguo wenhua bao).<ref name="LeeHo20032" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Sang|first=Tze-Ian Deborah|date=2002|title=At the Juncture of Censure and Mass Voyeurism: Narratives of Female Homoerotic Desire in Post-Mao China|journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies|volume=8|issue=4|pages=523–552|doi=10.1215/10642684-8-4-523|s2cid=144483347}}</ref> During this time she married a senior cultural official and they had a daughter in 1991.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> They have since separated.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> Lin Bai is still an active writer to this day.<ref name="LeeHo20032" />

==''A War of One's Own''== ''A War of One's Own'' (also known as ''A Self at War'' or ''A One-Person War'') is an autobiographical novel published in 1994.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Pozzi|first=Silvia|date=2004|title=Leaving Taboos behind: Notes on Two Novels by Chen Ran and Lin Bai|journal=L'Orientale|volume=64|pages=237–245}}</ref> It is her most famous work and gained popularity in the 1990s.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> Even though it was ready for publication in 1993, Lin Bai's writings were rejected by many literary magazines.<ref name=":5" />The novel was accepted for publishing by ''Flower City'' (Huacheng), a Guanzhou-based avant-garde journal.<ref name=":5" /> It was only in July 1994 that her novel took interest in the general public, when the front cover to publicize it was a picture of a nude women.<ref name=":5" /> In 1995-1996, Lin Bai encountered several censorship issues due to the description of "autoerotic activity and homoerotic relationships" in her book.<ref name=":5" />

''A War of One's Own'' follows the story of Lin Duomi from the age of five years old to her adulthood.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Ying|first=Li-hua|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=niMM4VuVRCYC&pg=PA108|title=Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature|date=2009-12-22|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7081-9|language=en}}</ref> The story explores female sexuality and experiences.<ref name=":5" /> It is narrated in the first person.<ref name=":5" /> Many similarities can be found between the main events of ''A War of One's Own'' and Lin Bai's life experiences.<ref name=":1" /> The story is said to be inspired from the author's shift from living in the small town of Beiliu to moving to Beijing.<ref name=":2" /> The book explores the notion of rejection through the character of Lin Duomi.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Wang|first=Lingzhen|title=Modernity in Chinese Literature|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2005|location=New York|pages=173–192}}</ref>

The book is often compared with Chen Ran's ''A Private Life'' for their similar themes.<ref name=":1" /> The common themes shared by both novels are loneliness, sexuality, narcissism, the mix of autobiography and fiction, escape, taboos and privacy.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> The literary trend called "Individualized Writing" is represented by both authors.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":63">{{Cite journal|last=Pozzi|first=Silvia|date=1999|title=Individualized Writing: Women Writers Blooming in China, The Art of Flying and Lin Bai|journal=L'Orientale|volume=59|pages=251–272}}</ref> According to some, both pieces address the notions of shame and insecurity all while having "daydreaming features and [a] consumerist structure".<ref name=":4" />

''A War of One's Own'' is considered a controversial novel.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":63" /> The ''Chinese Book Review'' (Zhonghua dushubao) depicted the novel as "pornography" (chungong) or "obscenity" (huangse) when it was first published.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" /> It is also considered a feminist work by some for its detailed account of female personal experiences.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":63" /> The marketing of this novel is considered by some to have "repackaged" the female narrative and experience to interest the male counterparts through voyeurism.<ref name=":5" /> Moreover, even though it was not Lin Bai's main goal through her narration, the novel has been perceived as a "complex view of homophobia as a form of internalized social discrimination".<ref name=":5" />

==Writing career and reception== Lin Bai began writing poems in 1975.<ref name=":63" /> Her poetry dating from the 1980s can be depicted as descriptive while her poems starting from the 1990s are seen as more introspective.<ref name=":63" /> She started her writing career with a plagiarism issue.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> During her first publication, one of the four poems published in ''Guangxi Literature and Art'' (Guangxi wenyi) was found to be written by another person.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> This incident did not stop Lin Bai from writing her own poetry and fiction work later on.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> The year of 1987 marked one of the first recognition of her works through the publication of short stories in the well established journals ''People's Literature'' (Renmin wenxue) and ''Shanghai Literature'' (Shanghai wenxue).<ref name=":5" /> In 1993, she wrote the short stories ''Water in a Bottle'' (Pingzhong zhi shui) and ''A Chair in the Encircling Corridor'' (Huilang zhi yi) and the novel ''A War of One's Own''.<ref name=":5" /> These three publications marked Lin Bai's entrance as a major contemporary female writer in China.<ref name=":5" />

Lin's novel ''Women's Idle talk'' portrays the ramblings of an old rural woman who works in the narrator's home (Lin is the narrator); through these non-linear fragments, Lin learns about the economic and moral crises in rural China.<ref name=":Wang">{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=David Der-wei |author-link=David Der-wei Wang |title=Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-73718-1 |editor-last=Li |editor-first=Jie |series=Harvard Contemporary China Series |volume= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |chapter=Red Legacies in Fiction |doi= |jstor= |editor-last2=Zhang |editor-first2=Enhua}}</ref>{{Rp|page=199}}

Lin Bai's writing style is distinctive by her focus on specific issues women may face during their adulthood in the 1990s Chinese society .<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> The author is known to draw her stories from personal experiences, combining them with fiction.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> The personal aspect of writing is important for the author, as it can be seen in her novel ''A War of One's Own.''<ref name=":4" /> Her publications are often centered around women's relationships and personal experiences.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /><ref name=":2" /> Some of the themes explored in her writings are sexuality, sexual orientation, female friendships, women's psychology, the search for freedom, masturbation, women's conditions in the workplace and at home, regionalism and bodily experiences.<ref name="LeeHo20032" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":63" />

Lin Bai has received some criticism for the themes addressed in her publications.<ref name=":1" /> The author is known to have a direct approach to such subjects, which was unique and uncommon during the post-Mao cultural era.<ref name=":2" /> Lin Bai is also critiqued for her publications serving as means for "voyeurism and confirming traditional ideas about gender difference".<ref name="LeeHo20032" /> On the other hand, her writings are also considered feminist by some for depicting women's realities and experiences all while denunciating taboos.<ref name="LeeHo20032" />

== Publications == * ''From the River to the Bank'' (Cong he bian dao an shang) ''(1986)'' *''Entering the River'' (Liuru na he) ''(1987)'' *''The Roses' Passageway (1993)'' *''Water in a Bottle'' (Pingzhong zhi shui) (1993) *''A War of One's Own/ A One-Person War'' (Yigeren de zhanzheng) (1994) *''Watching the Empty Years Pass By'' (Shouwang kongxin suiyue) (1995) *''Fatal Flight'' (Zhiming de feixiang) (1995) * ''The Seat on The Verandah'' (1995) *''Musk'' (Qingtai) ''(1995)'' *''The Bullet across the Apple'' (Zidan chuanguo pingguo) ''(1995)'' *''A Known Love'' (Siceng xiangshi de aiqing) ''(1995)'' *''Zero Degrees' Freedom'' (Ling du ziyou) ''(1996)'' *''Silk and Years'' (Sichou yu suiyue) ''(1996)'' *''Memory and Individualized Writing'' (Jiyi yu gerenhua xiezuo)''(1996)'' *''The Gallery Seat/ A Chair in the Encircling Corridor'' (Huilang zhi yi) ''(1996)'' *''Speaking, My Room'' (Shuoba, fangjian) (1997) *''Enchanting like a Ghost'' (Xiang gui yiyang miren) ''(1998)'' *''The Rice Jar'' (Mi gang) ''(1999)'' *''The Records of Women's Gossip (2006)'' *''The Chronicle of My Life in the North (2013)'' *''The Lockdown Poems: The Road to the Crematorium (2020)''

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Bai}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Guangxi Category:People from Yulin, Guangxi Category:20th-century Chinese poets Category:Poets from Guangxi Category:Chinese women novelists