Kenneth Pai's books are treated as the bible of Chinese gay culture by some and as a folk history of the 1970s by others. It came as no surprise then that people were eager to ask how much of the fascinating world of young drifters and their loves and lusts had been part of his own experience?
"The word fiction already indicates that what you read is not real," Pai said during a panel discussion for the TV mini-series Crystal Boys.
Pressing the point, a member of the discussion suggested that Pai, like the character Dragon in the novel, was a handsome son of an Army general.
"I didn't kill anyone, let's get that straight," he said, nimbly sidestepping the question.
A higher proportion of Pai's work has been turned into films, TV or stage plays than almost any other contemporary Taiwanese writer. Stories such as Jade Love (玉卿嫂), Kim's Last Night (金大班的最後一夜), Crystal Boys and Wandering in the Garden, Waking from Dream (遊園驚夢) are recognized classics of Chinese-language fiction. He is a master of various writing styles and is famous for his subtle depiction of women. With his literary reputation is unassailable, curiosity about this writer tends to focus around his sexual orientation.
"When I write, I always put myself on the same line as my characters. I feel their worlds and emotions with them," Pai said in reference to his "experience" of the events that take place in Crystal Boys. "You have to have keen observation and also a great sympathy towards your characters," he added.
In Crystal Boys, all the main characters come from broken or dysfunctional families. They are young male prostitutes and their relationships are mostly unstable. This raised the question: Aren't these characters reinforcing the stereotypes of gay people, was another question that came up.
"For me, it is a story, a drama. The most important thing is that it can touch you and make you sympathized with the characters. That's what matters. Because what I want to express is human nature and human feeling. As with heterosexuals, the world of homosexuals is also about human nature," Pai said.
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