In Bed with ‘Chinese’ Morrison and A Most Immoral Woman

I’ve plugged Linda Jaivin’s book – A Most Immoral Woman – about nasty old George Morrison and his dirty lusts after that old slapper Mae Ruth Perkins before – and a fun read it is too – and based on fact. Admittedly Linda has a bit more time for Morrison than me – I think him a fraud and a spiteful imperialist who stabbed many people in the back, hogged the glory, overrated everything about himself but his ambition and has generally been overpraised by ill-informed commentators and sycophantic biographers in the past. But enough of my prejudices – Linda will be in Shanghai to share hers with the Royal Asiatic Society on the 18th if you can get along – details below:

In Bed with ‘Chinese’ Morrison and A Most Immoral Woman

LINDA JAIVIN

Saturday 18^th September, 2010 at 4.00pm

Venue: The (dreadfully up itself and architectural monstrosity that is the…) PuLi Hotel and Spa, 1 ChangDe Road, JingAn District

In early 1904, the famous Australian China Correspondent for The Times of London, George ‘Chinese’ Morrison was obsessed with two things: the Russo-Japanese War, with which he was so closely identified that it was nicknamed ‘Morrison’s War’, and the charming and wealthy young American nymphomaniac, Mae Ruth Perkins. Chasing Maysie and chasing the war, Morrison travelled up and down the Chinese coast and over to Japan numerous times over the first half of 1904, trying to control two equally uncontrollable forces. Researching this story for her novel A Most Immoral Woman, Linda Jaivin uncovered some fascinating and either unexplored or mostly forgotten bits of history, including fellow correspondent Lionel James’s visionary quest to introduce wireless telegraphy to the field of war correspondence. Jaivin was also the first to track down the files on the irrepressibly naughty but scrupulously honest young woman at the heart of the story.

Linda Jaivin is the internationally published author of eight books, including the comic-erotic bestsellerEat Me and five other novels, as well as a collection of essays and the China memoir The Monkey and the Dragon. She is also the author of numerous published short stories, essays, translations from Chinese including the subtitles for major films such as Hero and Farewell My Concubine. She has also written for theatre, and is a cultural critic and popular public speaker. Her latest book is A Most Immoral Woman(Fourth Estate, HarperCollins Australia 2009). Jaivin was China correspondent for Asiaweek Magazine for the first half of the 1980s. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

DONATION: Entrance: RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption. Drinks and snacks will available for order and individual purchase at the venue. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

RSVP: to RAS Enquiry desk enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn