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Alex Kuo Alex Kuo was born in the United States but raised in China during World War II. He has traveled extensively there as a Senior Fulbright Fellow, Lingnan Fellow, and lecturer. He is the author of Chinese Opera, a novel, and a collection of poems, This Fierce Geography.
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Lipstick His memory-his mind, really-is blocking and altering his recollection of what transpired in the early forties in Chongqing. What he remembers about his mother is especially jagged and conflicting. Such repression is a theme Alex Kuo pursues in many of his stories. Likewise censorship and state terrorism, ideology, and dissidence. "His stories burst with hard-edged insights that take my breath away. I read them with surprise and admiration." -P.K. Leung "The essence of what short stories should be: simple and at the same time profound and disturbing. It is his genius to bring to light how the basic horror of repression, censorship and state terrorism is the same all over the world, on any side." -Luisa Valenzuela "A lushly written, enigmatic collection of tales, most of which are set in that murky borderland where dreams, memory, imagination and fact mingle and merge, creating an alternate reality in which authenticity trumps mere accuracy....Lipstick and Other Stories may present readers with more questions than answers, but in the end it will leave them believing." -South China Morning Post "Collectively [these stories] convey a strong sense of what a contemporary intellectual artist in China is up against...Add to this a large dose of droll humor, and Kuo's art is complete." -Bloomsbury Review "Alex Kuo's work is informed by his knowledge of Asian American literature, which translates to a writer who is always pushing the definition of the field and expanding the borders of the diaspora." -Shawn Wong "Alex Kuo's work is infused with his own keen intelligence and exemplary integrity which just shines through the writing. Both the man and his work have a kind of articulate elegance informed by a passion for fairness and a deep concern with historical forces." -Judith Roche Asia 2000 |
