Scales of Injustice: The Complete Fiction of Loa Hô

Product Description

Loa Hô (also Lai He, 1894 1943) was a pioneering writer from Taiwan often called the ‘father of New Taiwanese Literature’. As a doctor during the colonial period in Taiwan, Loa witnessed the cruelty of Japanese rule and wrote stories which display both his sense of justice and social insight. His writing often utilized irony and satire to criticize the status quo, and his work provides a fascinating window into the struggle for Taiwanese self-determination during the early twentieth century.
Scales of Injustice contains the complete fiction of Loa Hô, with an expert introduction from Pei-yin Lin and explanatory notes by translator Darryl Sterk.

Review

“From the pen of a multi-talented hero of Taiwan’s resistance to Japanese colonial rule, these stories embody Taiwan’s invincible spirit and display the author’s compassion for the downtrodden.” —
Sylvia Li-chun Lin

“Considered by many to be the father of Taiwan’s modern (vernacular) fiction, Loa Hô (Lai He) is also one of the most important chroniclers of the island s colonial period and an indefatigable defender of the oppressed. His fine stories are compellingly humane, and, in many cases, timeless.” —
Howard Goldblatt

“What a welcome edition.
Scales of Injustice collects all the short stories of Lai He, the Father of Modern Taiwan Literature, in one volume. The book’s translator provides a consistent voice for the author in all its guises. The volume is rounded out by a contextualizing introduction and helpful annotations. A must read for all those interested in Taiwan literature and/or colonial literature. —
John Balcom

About the Author

Darryl Sterk is a Chinese-English literary translator from Canada who is based in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where he teaches translation at Lingnan University. He has mainly translated contemporary Mandarin fiction from Taiwan into English, including the 2018 Man Booker International Prize long-listed
The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi. As a scholar, he researches translation to and from the Taiwanese indigenous language Seediq, especially for the feature film Seediq Bale.
Pei-yin Lin received her PhD in Languages and Cultures of East Asia from SOAS, University of London, and is currently Associate Professor at the School of Chinese, the University of Hong Kong. She previously taught at the National University of Singapore, the University of Cambridge and SOAS, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard Yenching Institute.