''Notes of a Crocodile'' (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 鱷魚手記) is a 1994 Taiwanese

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by writer

Qiu Miaojin Qiu Miaojin (; 29 May 1969 – 25 June 1995), also romanized as Chiu Miao-chin, was a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese queer novelist. Qiu's fictional works are "frequently cited as classics", and her unapologetically lesbian sensibility has had ...

(邱妙津). It is one of the most significant Taiwanese

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

novels of the 1990s, and is also a significant work in Taiwanese literature. The novel depicts the identity, emotional belonging, and self-exploration of lesbians, and uses the metaphor of a "

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

" to represent a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

who is forced to live in disguise in a society that is dominated by heterosexuals. The terms "crocodile" and "La-tzu" (拉子) in the novel have become self-referential terms for lesbians in Taiwan.

Synopsis

''Notes of a Crocodile'' is a collection of eight diaries, told in a double narrative. The odd-numbered chapters are written in the first person in the form of private diaries, describing the university life of the protagonist La-tzu and others, as well as their conflicts between self-identity and emotional belonging. The novel is set in Taipei of the late 1980s, post-martial law, detailing La-tzu falling in love with a female classmate and befriending many other queer characters. Through this depiction of love and struggle, and the sincere confession of emotions, the author depicts the psychological predicament of homosexuals in the 1990s, facing their own same-sex love in a society dominated by

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

. The even-numbered chapters are written in the form of monologues by an

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

crocodile, which satirize and allude to the lonely and oppressed fate of a "sexual deviant" in human society.

Reception

Taiwanese writer Chi Ta-wei (紀大偉) believes that the two storylines do not mutually define each other in a clear way. In general, it is believed that the crocodile symbolizes a lesbian or homosexual who appears to be friendly and shy on the outside, but lonely on the inside. Literary scholar Tze-Lan Deborah Sang (桑梓蘭) believes that the novel is a blend of realism and animal fables. The author uses

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and jump-cutting techniques to organize the structure, which can be seen as a feature of ''Notes of a Crocodile''.{{Cite book , last=Sang , first=Tze-Lan Deborah , title=浮現中的女同性戀：現代中國的女同性愛欲 , publisher=National Taiwan University Press , year=2015 , location=Taipei , pages=287–304 , trans-title=The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-. Sex Desire in Modern China An English translation of the book by Bonnie Huie was published in May of 2017 by the New York Review Books as part of their NYRB Classics series, which ''

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'' described as "nothing short of remarkable."

Reference

1990s LGBT novels Taiwanese novels LGBT literature in Taiwan Reptiles in popular culture 1994 novels