Dr. Christopher Lupke (Washington State University) is coming out with a book, The Sinophone Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien: Culture, Style, Voice, and Motion. Hou was first known for his visual interpretation of rural and working class Taiwanese during its dramatic and traumatic transformation from an agricultural postcolonial to a semi-industrial economic power in the late twentieth century in the wake of the Japanese surrender. His distinctive use of editing to decelerate the pace of film narrative received the immediate acclaim of discerning film viewers. Turning to political issues in the late 1980s, he infused themes of social engagement into his highly aesthetic style of screen presentation. His later films have transported his lens to such far-flung places as Shanghai, Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Paris, as well as the ancient Tang Dynasty city of Chang’an. Lupke’s book is the most comprehensive and current treatment of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s work covers his entire oeuvre to date—including The Assassin––and also includes a comparison of Hou’s work and Ozu Yasujiro’s work.
Another related forthcoming book is Supernatural Sinophone Taiwan and Beyond by Dr. Chia-rong Wu (Rhodes College), which, by focusing on the narratives of the strange (zhiguai), connects the trope of ghost haunting with Taiwan’s complex ethnoscapes and historical, colonial trauma. Both books are in the Cambria Sinophone World Series headed by Dr. Victor Mair (University of Pennsylvania) and would definitely be helpful material for designing Asian urbanization courses.
Brendan Moore <bmoore@cambriapress.com>