Chang Ta-chun (Chinese: 張大春; pinyin: Zhāng Dàchūn; Wade–Giles: Chang Ta-ch'un) (14 June 1957) is a notable Taiwanese author[1] and literary critic. He is the author of many novels, two of which, Wild Child ( 野孩子 ) and My Kid Sister (我妹妹), were published together in the U.S. as Wild Kids (Two Novels about Growing Up) by Columbia University Press (2000), translated from the Chinese by Michael Berry.[2]

Ta-chun at Taipei International Book Exhibition in 2008

Chang began to win acclaim with his first story, "Suspended" (1976). His major breakthrough came in 1986 with his collection of short stories Apartment Building Tour Guide. He also wrote wuxia and science-fiction stories. His "spontaneous news novel" The Grand Liar includes the daily news into the plot and is his most ambitious book.

He also published the novel The Weekly Journal of Young Big Head Spring under the pen name Big Head Spring (Datou Chun). My Kid Sister and Wild Child are the second and third installments of the Big Head Spring Trilogy.

His short story "The General's Monument" (Jiangjun bei), included in the collection Lucky Worries About his Country, was translated into French by Philippe Picquier, under the title La Stèle du général, in 2004.

In the 1990s Chang Ta-chun produced and hosted two popular television shows. As a reporter, he worked for the China Times.[3]

He has a cameo in Hou Hsiao-hsien's film City of Sadness.

Educational background edit

Works edit

  • "Suspended" (Xuandang), 1976
  • Apartment Building Tour Guide (Gongyu daoyu) (short stories, 1986)
  • Lucky Worries About his Country (Sixi youguo) (short stories, 1988)
  • Happy Thieves (Huanxi zei) (short stories, 1989)
  • Pathological Changes (Bingbian) (short stories, 1990)
  • The Grand Liar (Da shuoshuang jia) (novel, 1990)
  • The Weekly Journal of Young Big Head Spring (Shaonian Datou Chun de shenghuo zhouji) (novel, 1992)
  • My Kid Sister (Wo meimei) (novel, 1993)
  • No One Wrote a Letter to the Colonel (Meiren xiezin gei shangxiao) (novel, 1994)
  • Wild Child (Ye haizi) (novel, 1996)
  • Disciples of the Liar (Sahuang de xintu) (novel, 1996)

References edit

  1. ^ Pan, Philip P. (2 January 2004). "New National Identity Emerges in Taiwan; Culture Shifting Away From Mainland China". The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  2. ^ Available in Archive.og
  3. ^ Information taken from the Translator's Introduction to the English translation of My Kid Sister and Wild Child (Columbia University Press, 2000) ISBN 0-231-12096-6