ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the literary and academic career of Chi Ta-wei since the 1990s until the recent publication of his A Queer Invention in Taiwan: A History of Tongzhi Literature. Firstly, it explores the way Chi Ta-wei draws inspiration from the prevailing queer theories in the American academic world and reinterprets the concept of ‘queer’ in the Taiwanese context of the 1990s. Secondly, the chapter tries to explain the primacy of the science fiction genre in Chi’s choice of literary expression, by questioning how he undertakes to explore the issues of body, consciousness, and identity by bringing to the fore the idea of transgender and post-gender. The chapter shows how both Chi’s epistemological and literary approaches are part of a process of appropriation of works with foreign origin (queer studies, postmodern European literature, or post-human science fiction. . .). It concludes by showing how Chi’s literary and theoretical production can also make a rewarding contribution to both queer and science fiction studies.
