Tag Archives: Paris Review

Two Xi Chuan poems in new Paris Review

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The Paris Review has published my translations of two new Xi Chuan poems, “Mourning Problems” 悼念之问题 and “Awake in Nanjing” 醒在南京, the former of which is available online for free (“Awake in Nanjing” is available in print and online for subscribers). Here’s how it begins:
an ant dies, and no one mourns
a bird dies, and no one mourns if it isn’t a crested ibis
a monkey dies, and monkeys mourn
a monkey dies, and people pry open its skull
a shark dies, and another shark keeps swimming
Click on the image to link to the poem. (Also check out the interviews with poet and translator Peter Cole, and Russian translator duo Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)

Tumblr Reblogs of Xi Chuan’s Window

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A couple days ago I posted a link to the view from Xi Chuan’s studio window as drawn by Matteo Pericoli posted on the Paris Review Daily. Here’s a list from the Paris Review‘s tumblr feed of all the people who’ve reblogged the image so far. Follow the links to an amazing collection of internationalism, art, and political engagement that represents, I think, the internet at its best.

A Look Out Xi Chuan’s Window

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As part of its series on “what writers from around the world see from their windows,” the Paris Review Daily recently featured Matteo Pericoli’s drawing of the view from Xi Chuan’s studio window. The feature also includes a passage from Xi Chuan, which he wrote in English, about his view. It ends:

But the whole city of Beijing was a giant construction site in the 1990s and 2000s, and the view couldn’t last. Once I got used to the buildings in the window, I seldom looked out of it. No trees can reach the fifteenth floor, so no birds perch at my window. When I look out, I see cars running on the bridge. Nothing else.