About Shi Kejian

Bio by
Minna vander Pfaltz
for Shi Kejian
史可鉴 has asked me to write this little biography for him; he’s not too keen on talking about himself. He sees this as being kind of pushy and arrogant and compensating–as so many who write wonderful things about themselves are.
史可鉴 is a moody writer–and he’s sensitive to this being a cliche, but it’s true. Out of this, he writes considerable social satire, some of it very biting–his mother came to see one of his plays (the only family member ever to do so) and she would not speak to him afterward. It was, I think, his first produced play; this reaction was similar to her reaction upon his first taking up writing. So it goes.
Most of his other poetry is wanting–and he’s aware of it. But 史可鉴’s tanka is subtle and soft, graceful even when he is lambasting the absurdities and cruelties of life/people. The intertwining of allusions and self-reflectiveness of his words creates a delightful web–but enjoying his writing does not require going into the aesthetics of the structuring of his poems.
史可鉴 began writing short stories but really came into his own in his playwriting. After eking out his Ph.D. in alternative theatre, he went to Japan. He lived there for five years, studying theatre and (mostly) teaching. He has held several jobs and been an editor, copyeditor and reporter. I think, though, the power and elegance of his work comes from the depth of his feelings, the immense love he has experienced and the excruciating pain of disloyalty, of traitorousness. True to the folk wisdom that to experience love is to know life and death. I know. I have been there with him through it all. He is my dearest and closest friend. Thirty years.
We are both now in China, though in different cities. He is tired of teaching, tired of the laziness of students and the plagiarism, tired of the innumerable hours he spends preparing for classes that don’t pay attention–is it arrogant of him to think he has something to say?