Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin, who translated Notes of a Desolate Man, exchanged faxes constantly with author Chu Tien-wen, asking about special slang used in Taiwan, events discussed in the book, building names, quoted verse or poems, and so on.
《荒人手記》的譯者葛浩文與林麗君，在翻譯期間就不斷與作者朱天文傳真往返，舉凡台灣的特殊用語、翻譯用語、現象、建築名稱、詩詞等等。