Writing from Wuhan 武汉, where we’ve just wrapped up the CAAP conference titled and celebration of Marjorie Perloff‘s 80th birthday, with keynote speakers Charles Bernstein, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Chung Ling 鍾玲 (who translated two books of classical Chinese poetry with Kenneth Rexroth in the ’70s).
I spoke on the sociology of Chinese poetry translation in English (here’s the outline of the program from Bernstein’s blog), but amidst all the impressive talks and presentations, the most valuable part of any conference will always the conversations and connections made in lobbies and over meals.
Talking to Marjorie Perloff about Xi Chuan’s notion of the place of oxymoron in his poetry, and how you can’t understand China without understanding oxymoron, she had a flash of recognition: “Yes,” she said, “I feel like China is one big oxymoron!” I had to ask, “Just one?”