Red 11

Author: Li Ao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Another new work from the eccentric Taiwanese writer Li Ao, released on his 68th birthday. This firsthand realistic work claims he will continue to compete for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Red 11 tells the story of a few special prisoners chatting in a cell of a detention center in Taipei during the authoritarian period of the Kuomintang in the 1970s. During the authoritarian period, the trial of most cases, from appeal to retrial to final judgment, took about three months. Therefore, the entire book selects four days as the titles of its four acts: Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Winter Solstice, and Spring Equinox, perfectly matching the four days representing the cycle of seasons in the lunar calendar. The main character throughout the play is only one: a 38-year-old great writer named Longtou, a political prisoner convicted for ideological struggles, and a "head" that even the prison guard prisoners admire. In the play, this Longtou counts the horrifying and outrageous cases of injustice in Taiwan with his eloquent speech, citing classics, and passionately denouncing the flaws of the times, seemingly embodying Li Ao himself. The book reveals Taiwan's party struggles and ugly history, which can rival "black lenses," but Li Ao's fiery words still make people laugh out loud and applaud in admiration, as always with his black humor. Red 11 is a newly completed play by Taiwanese writer Li Ao, finished in April of this year. The play is divided into four acts: "Summer Solstice," "Autumn Equinox," "Winter Solstice," and "Spring Equinox," telling the stories of injustices in Taiwan during the authoritarian period through the mouths of prisoners. The protagonist Longtou seems like an embodiment of Li Ao: eloquent, citing classics, and passionately denouncing the flaws of the times.