Tsao Yu-fang bids `farewell with all my heart'

In a departure from traditional death rites, distinguished Taiwanese writer Tsao Yu-fang (曹又方) last week held a party to say goodbye to her friends. She was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer three years ago.

A cliche still common in Chinese communities is that life and death are like the blossoming and withering of flowers -- part of nature's cycle.

This attitude originate with the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (莊子), who cared least for the tribulations of life and death of all the ancient Chinese philosophers. For him, since life and death were intrinsic parts of nature's processes, they were cause for neither happiness nor sadness.

The phrase is frequently repeated by people who don't really mean it. But, as a lover of Chuang Tzu's philosophy, Tsao tried to put into practice the meaning behind the words by holding her party last week.

Many distinguished figures from intellectual circles were invited to the highly publicized party, where Tsao launched a 24-volume edition of her selected works.

As she said at the party, she wants to die not only happy but also beautiful. She appeared as pretty and elegant as ever, making it difficult for many to believe that she is already in her late 50s.

In an interview with the Taipei Times last week, she said that her attitude toward life and death reflects two major subjects of her literary writings -- love and beauty.

That attitude may well explain why she tends to compare life and literary writing to the flower, the literary symbol of beauty.

When asked why writers often tend to play down their published works while working passionately on new projects, she said, "For a writer, published works are like fallen flowers, but the expected new work is like a calyx waiting to blossom."

Tsao began to write at the age of 10 and published her 50th book in 1997. She first wrote serious novels, short stories and essays, but these were not a commercial success.

Her book of verses entitled A clear stream before my door (門前一道清流), published in 1989, for example, had still not sold its first print run of 2,000 copies after five years.

More recently, particularly since she founded the Eurasian Press (圓神出版社) in 1989, her writing has reflected a shift toward inspirational essays about relationships, especially those between lovers. Her books have been instant successes as soon as they hit bookstores.

Tsao explains the change by saying that literature is no longer valued the way it once was.

"In the late 19th century, people took literature seriously, but now that has changed. As society diversifies, the number of people who read literature is decreasing. It will be difficult for readers to digest my ideas through literature," Tsao said.

"I must point out that this is not a compromise, but it is to convey my ideas through a different genre, given that I have to devote a lot of time to my publishing company, which gives me less time to write."

Although Tsao rose to prominence mainly through her popular inspirational essays, only eight volumes of her newly published selected works are of that genre. Ten are novels and six are traditional Chinese emotion and passion-based "personal essays," showing the importance of literature in her writing career.

Like all inspirational essays in the Taiwanese market, the themes of her recent works are living and loving bravely with an open mind, and never losing courage even when love fades away or following betrayal.