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

Writer Tsao Yu-fang, who is terminally ill, says her attitude toward life and death reflects two major subjects of her literary writings -- love and beauty. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

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.

They have an autobiographical ring to them. Tsao likes to joke about her numerous experiences of love lost. She told the Taipei Times that she almost killed herself when she was 12 after a boyfriend broke up with her.

"Finally I changed my mind when an idea struck me. I asked myself how I could die before becoming a writer. Not only did I have to become a writer, but I had to make him regret not having the vision to love me," Tsao said.

Another strong message about love conveyed by her inspirational works, however, is that one should never demean a former lover.

"Since you have loved each other, you share at least 80 percent of the same characteristics and ideas. To demean him [or her] suggests you are as lousy as each other," said Tsao.

Her proud and strong approach toward relationships reflects her personality. As her close friend, writer and columnist Po Da-chung (卜大中) says her feminine elegance and beauty hide a tough masculine character. Po says she is "transvestite in personality."

Po's remark may be based on sexual stereotypes, but it appears to be true of the discrepancy between Tsao's appearance and personality. Tao is a successful businesswoman in the publishing industry and a tough fighter against cancer.

According to Po, she once even harshly scolded her admirers.

For the past three years, she has been working on an autobiographical novel, whose length and completion time she says she can't predict.

"For a writer, life is always too short to write. I will just try my best during what remains of my life," she said.

Apart from this work in progress, when asked which book she would most like to be remembered for, she replied: "Farewell with all my heart (送君千里), perhaps. Because the novels in this collection are the closest to an ideal art form."
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