Morse’s He Qifang in Eleven Eleven

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“Magic Grass,” by He Qifang 何其芳 (1912-1977), has been published in Eleven Eleven in Canaan Morse’s translation. Prose by a poet, it begins:

The books on magic speak of a certain species of miraculous grass, whose power is such that not even the most complex and difficult lock can withstand it. The words uncap my imagination. From deep within the mountains the harvesters come searching for it, bright blue-green, to close it tightly inside a wooden box and leave to dry for many days; then when it is dry and yellowed, it possesses unmatched arcane power. Grief has long held me captive in darkness and mystery, left me pacing up and down before my own door like a man banished from Paradise. Sometimes, I would rather be one of those children peddling matches—go out in the frigid night and scrape golden sparks from off the wall like opening a window, maybe catch a glimpse of happiness shimmering inside. Only now do I realize that the key I am searching for is really a blade of grass, extinct from common use and unknown to men.

Click here for the full piece.

Lupke’s Xiao Kaiyu in Eratio

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The new issue of E·ratio includes four poems by Xiao Kaiyu 肖开愚, as translated by Chris Lupke. Here’s a sample:

In answering a well-intentioned query, Milton
declared: “Oh Leader, vengeance!”
I asked him to emulate the scorched youths who
suffered so he could get the power they craved.

答應善良的請求，彌爾頓
呼籲過：“主啊，復仇吧！”
我要求他像燒焦的青年那樣
受難的人能夠請求到力量。

Click here to download the .pdf publication.

Trailer for Poet on a Business Trip

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Poet on a Business Trip 诗人出差了
Director: Ju Anqi 雎安奇

Synopsis:
In the dictionary definition, a business trip is when an employee is sent out to do work-related business. The main character of this film is the poet Shu, who lives in Beijing and has never been on a business trip. Twelve years ago, in the fall of 2002, he decided to send himself on a business trip to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 4000 kilometers away. In this desolate westernmost region of China, he traveled alone by way of all sorts of vehicles, passing through mountain ranges, forests, lake regions, the desert, and national borders. Staying in the cheapest motels and hostels, he sought out prostitute after prostitute. Somewhere in the midst of the physical environment and his physical body, the poet on a business trip wrote sixteen poems, and this film begins with the first one.

For more, click here.

Morse on Bradbury’s Hsia Yü

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At Paper Republic Canaan Morse reviews Salsa by Hsia Yü 夏宇 as translated by Steve Bradbury:

In order to recreate these transformative linguistic effects, Bradbury uses assonances, parallel structures, and rhymes with English words that may not appear in the original. While we obviously cannot claim (as much as critics demand it) that translations be both faithful and independent, Bradbury’s process – engaging a creative, artistic faculty that inhabits an English-language context to create a poem that represents the narrative and receptive structure of a Chinese poem – successfully makes poems that exist both within and outside of his control, which may be a more sound and equitable way to understand these words on these pages.

Click the here to read his review.

Manfredi on the Poetic Survivors’ Paintings

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Mang KePaul Manfredi at China Avantgarde writes about the exhibition of the paintings of the Poetic Survivors. He explains:

This exhibition, title The Poetic Survivors 诗意的幸存者 , is on a larger scale than many iterations past, with some new members in the line-up. In particular is the calligraphy of Tang Xiaodu 唐晓渡, long-time critic and cultural figure whose visual art I had never seen before this collection emerged. Also notable is the preface to the exhibition written by Yang Lian, who is not often so closely engaged with goings-on inside China. The funding will carry this exhibition through numerous cities over the next 12 months, among them and besides Shanghai where the operation kicked off in November, will be Beijing, Shenyang, and Dalian.

The seven-person lineup this time rather different from previous “Poets Group” (诗派) of painters, with only Mang Ke 芒克, and Yan Li 严力 the constant members. They are here joined by Tang Xiaodu 唐晓渡, as mentioned, but also You You 友友, Guo Changhong 郭长虹, Li Li 李笠 and Jie Wei 解危.

Click the image above of the painting by Mang Ke for Manfredi’s write-up, and Yang Lian’s intro in Chinese (the English of which I translated for the exhibition brochure).

Inaugural issue of Journal of Chinese Literature & Culture

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The Journal of Chinese Literature & Culture, edited by Yuan Xingpei 袁行霈 and Zong-qi Cai 蔡宗齊, has just published vol. 1, no. 1-2.

It includes articles on poetry such as “The Life and Afterlife of Ling Zhiyuan (1831–1852) and Her Poetry Collection” by Grace S. Fong, “Primers and Poetry in Ancient China: Shenglü fameng and Beyond” by Zhang Jian 張健, Dandan Chen 陳丹丹, “Tao Yuanming: A Symbol of Chinese Culture” by Yuan Xingpei and Alan Berkowitz, and “Poetry and Diplomacy in the Zuozhuan” by Wai-Yee Li 李惠儀.

Click the image for links to download the articles.

Heather Inwood at China Digital Times

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Heather Inwood (image courtesy interviewee)The China Digital Times interviews Heather Inwood over her new book, Verse Going Viral (University of Washington Press, 2014). Here’s a sample Q & A:

CDT: Your book addresses the question of whether Chinese poetry is a “literature in crisis” in a “poetry country.” Other nations also pride themselves on their poetic traditions but scorn contemporary poetry. Do you see any parallels between the struggles of poetry communities in China and in other countries, such as the UK?

Inwood: The “death of poetry” has been a recurring theme for many years in most parts of the world; China is by no means alone in worrying about the state of the nation of poetry … Equally, in every instance this turns out to be simply not true: people will always write poetry, regardless of who is reading or listening or what other media temptations may exist, and as long as poetry is being written it will be continue to be relevant to lives around the world.

What makes China such an interesting case study is that modern poetry was a part of mainstream culture as recently as the 1980s, when poets like Gu Cheng and Shu Ting were seen as national celebrities–at least among a significant portion of China’s educated population. Up until just over 100 years ago, the importance of poetry was institutionalized through its inclusion in the civil service examinations, meaning that poetry was not just a highly respected art form and way of life, but also a direct channel to employment in the highest levels of the imperial bureaucracy.

This enduring association between poetry and elite society is another reason why poetry’s loss of readership in the last couple of decades has been felt so keenly in China. It also explains the ongoing efforts of writers and critics to expand the social reach of poetry, for example by advocating the poetry of migrant workers (打工诗歌 dagong shige) or championing “popular” (民间 minjian) poetry over “intellectual writing” (知识分子写作 zhishi fenzi xiezuo), as we saw in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Click on the image for the full interview.

 

21st Century Chinese Poetry

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21st Century Chinese PoetryI don’t know how I missed this site for so long–21st Century Chinese Poetry, a quarterly journal:
21st Century Chinese Poetry was founded with the intention of introducing modern Chinese poetry to readers worldwide.The editor-and-translator team of 21st Century Chinese Poetry selects some of the best poems written in Chinese by today’s poets from all geographic areas.
The editors include Wang Meifu 王美富, Michael Truman Soper 苏浪禹, Steven Townsend 唐晓飞, and Zhang Fanxiu 张凡修.

Click on the image above to check it out!