{"id":2697,"date":"2014-07-15T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2014-07-15T09:39:53","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:39:53","slug":"an-impossible-present-five-poets-from-nanjing-at-aaww","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2697","title":{"rendered":"An Impossible Present: Five Poets from Nanjing at AAWW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Philippe<\/a><\/p>\n

Nanjing is a tragic city. Its tourist spots are either places where people died or places people have been buried. Despite having been the capital during imperial China\u2019s Six Dynasties (220-589), the city is scarred by the decline and fall of those ephemeral kingdoms. Today in Nanjing few historic landmarks remain intact, due to successive waves of destruction inflicted by Mongolian nomads, Manchu occupation, the Taiping Heavenly Army, Japanese invasion, the Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution. The city\u2019s real history exists largely in the imagination: in myths and legends, poetry, drama, and art.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop <\/a>has published a feature of five poets from Nanjing, “An Impossible Present,” with translations by Dong Sun and Josh Stenberg, edited by Andrea Lingenfelter. Poems by Dong Sun, Huang Fan, Lu Dong, Hu Xuan, and Yu Bang. Here’s a sample from Lu Dong:<\/p>\n

Men imitate birds
\nBirds imitate men\u2019s nightmares
\nThe greatest birds
\nAim high, fly far
\nAfter a lifetime aloft
\nThey drop from the sky
\nAnd discover that flying
\nOut of every kind of magic
\nIs the lowest trick of all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click the image above for the full feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nanjing is a tragic city. Its tourist spots are either places where people died or places people have been buried. Despite having been the capital during imperial China\u2019s Six Dynasties (220-589), the city is scarred by the decline and fall … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[491,1425,1427,141,1239,1426,1428],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Hv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3196,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3196","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":0},"title":"Two Xi Chuan poems in new Paris Review","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Paris Review has published my translations of two new Xi Chuan poems, \"Mourning Problems\" \u60bc\u5ff5\u4e4b\u95ee\u9898 and \"Awake in Nanjing\" \u9192\u5728\u5357\u4eac, 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4192,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4192","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":1},"title":"Goodman on The Reciprocal Translation Project","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing for the LARB China Channel, Eleanor Goodman reviews The Reciprocal Translation Project, edited by James Sherry and Sun Dong \u5b59\u51ac. And she comes out swinging! The Reciprocal Translation Project is a messy, fraught endeavor. Here is the back blurb, which is also the first paragraph of the editors\u2019 introduction:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51McVMfSV6L._SX387_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2714,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2714","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":2},"title":"Josh Stenberg’s Sun Dong on Asymptote","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Asymptote has also published poetry by Sun Dong \u5b59\u51ac as translated by Josh Stenberg. From \"Wall\" \u5899: Geographic change is too slow a species goes extinct too slowly \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the years roll on everything is the opposite of the poetic the carrot top is a little conspirator\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":931,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=931","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":3},"title":"Jade Ladder’s Poets","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've compiled a list of the poets whose work appears in English translation in Jade Ladder, the new anthology of contemporary Chinese poetry edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, W N Herbert, Brian Holton, and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87. The anthology presents the work of poets by birth year, but the work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2263,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2263","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":4},"title":"WLT Review of Han Dong & Ouyang Jianghe","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"World Literature Today has published Josh Stenberg's review of Zephyr books A Phone Call from Dalian by Han Dong\u00a0\u97e9\u4e1c, translated by Nicky Harman, and Doubled Shadows by Ouyang Jianghe \u6b27\u9633\u6c5f\u6cb3, translated by Austin Woerner: Ouyang Jianghe and Han Dong ... both occupy established places in what, for over thirty years,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.worldliteraturetoday.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2013\/September\/dong_aphonecallfromdalian.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2613,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2613","url_meta":{"origin":2697,"position":5},"title":"Review of Han Dong’s A Phone Call from Dalian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Modern Chinese Literature & Culture list has posted my review of A Phone Call from Dalian \u6765\u81ea\u5927\u8fde\u7684\u7535\u8bdd (Zephyr Press), by Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c, edited by Nicky Harman. Here's a passage from the middle where I make a point about how having too many anthologies of contemporary Chinese poetry in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mclc.osu.edu\/rc\/pubs\/reviews\/handong2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2699,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}