Almost there...

The Assassin tells the story of a swordswoman who refrains from killing. Hou Hsiao-hsien astonishes his audience once again by upsetting almost every convention of the wuxia (martial arts) genre in the film. This collection offers eleven readings, each as original and thought-provoking as the film itself, beginning with one given by the director himself. Contributors analyze the elliptical way of storytelling, Hou’s adaptation of the source text (a tale from the Tang dynasty, also included in this volume), the film’s appropriation of traditional Chinese visual aesthetics, as well as the concept of xia (knight-errant) that is embedded in Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist worldviews. There are also discussions of the much-celebrated sonic design of The Assassin: the nearly exclusive use of a diegetic film score is a statement on the director’s belief in cinematic reality. Underlying all the chapters is a focus on how Hou reinvents Tang-dynasty China in contemporary culture. The meticulous

他是水電工，囤積症患者，也是詩人。 「你說好像沒有什麼愛的感覺／我做了，可心裡有些難過。兩次。／ 你叫我叫水電行的來修理熱水器／我做了，整天整個人都成為水電工了／ 手指頭被鐵鎚敲到好想讓人安慰／不過那也都是過去的事了／ 今天天氣好得不像樣／我感覺青春從遠遠的過去過來了／幾乎會要了我的命」 ——〈每天的天氣〉 在滿是記憶符碼的、擁擠的房間裡，他曾提筆抄詩，聽著傷心欲絕，用一台小影印機，列印出略帶無力卻又奇怪積極的白紙黑字；使用訂書機裝訂後，再以電火布（水電膠帶）封邊，做成一本名喚《我們的戒菸失敗》的zine詩集。很粗糙，就這樣，全臺灣100多人擁有，卻幾乎沒人願意割愛。 ★新增20餘幅彩色攝影主題作品＋全新校訂內文＋全新後記 ★傳奇手寫zine詩集，穢土轉生，全新面貌「文庫本」與你相遇 ★一本獻給邊緣人、孤獨者，與地才們的詩集。 怕只怕在某個又飄起雨沫的夜裡／例如響著座頭市那樣陰暗的樂曲／ 憶起究竟走過幾回的中正台商圈／就難忍莫可奈何的苦笑／ 如同我們的戒菸失敗／繼續抽著名為幸運的香菸／ 試圖在馬桶上創造些什麼鬼東西——〈#便秘〉 各領域推薦 「如果你曾有一丁點被《我們的戒菸失敗》打動，代表詩集裡的真實氣味離你不遠，《我們的戒菸失敗》是作者用人生交換來的字字句句，有屁尿屎淚，也有血有肉，有時令人會心一笑，有時慘不忍睹。常常仰賴生活衝擊創作的我，多少能體會創作者自傳體帶有自殘又自癒的矛盾。」——葛洛力（業餘唱作人，化石代的少女） 「恣睢麻利的詩句，將一個人遭受社會化齒輪反覆壓榨、推擠的過程，帶點自嘲地說完。表面上瘋瘋癲癲，讀了卻誠實到讓人覺得不堪，不忍。但這不是一本需要憐憫的書，因為讀者也是書中主角：我們都在成功邊緣徘徊，一邊嘆息Almost doesn’t count，一邊因為被他的詩句深深理解，而可以告訴自己，We’re almost there。」——陳夏民（本書編輯） 「自那個總在夜晚的Livehouse中爛醉的狂人帶著詩與害羞的表情進入我的地下室以後，我才開始真的明白：日子越是破敗無聊，越能美麗。」——黃廷玉（Mangasick店長） 「麻利詩文有種特殊的浪漫。那種浪漫來自於浮沉人生不上不下掙扎，並不只是憤怒，或者憑藉他工人身分可以大書特書的政治正確，像是張作驥的電影。當我們

Do you know why there have been so many problems in various parts of the world? In furtherance of their colonial interests, British politicians from time to time wrote national borders for other peoples. They did so in the Balkans, in Africa and in the Middle East. They even drew the border between China and India. Such borders were very often not based on the conditions on the ground. This sowed the seeds of future conflicts. Open your eyes and be open-minded, learn history from different perspectives. Hear the other side, reflect on our own position, independent thinking, say no to double standard. What have we learnt from history? The Great Flood of Yahweh killed almost all living things (including the lovely boys and girls in China). Is this not genocide? In the Conquest of Canaan, did Yahweh not instruct his Chosen People to embark on genocide? Are these really consistent with the all-loving Christian God? God must have been very upset by so many people claiming to be Christia

At the close of the Chinese Civil War, two million Chinese fled from the victorious communist army under Mao Zedong. They fled across a long ocean strait to the island of Taiwan where they waited for almost fifty years, dreaming of their lost homes and relatives left behind, aging and living out their lives as defeated, cursed people. But when both Taiwan and China began to become wealthy, the two sides allowed cautious exchanges. The split families met up again. There was hope, joy, sorrow, and disasters. Yet the losers of the Chinese civil war, who had endured for so long, now found a new reason to persevere: they no longer hated their enemies. In fact, they now wanted to join them. This book draws on oral histories with Kuomintang loyalists in Taiwan to show their painful struggles with family, friends, and relatives back in the mainland, their hopes and disappointments, the effects on a changing society and political situation in Taiwan, and the dynamics of cross-strait relation