{"id":3260,"date":"2015-08-19T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T01:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2015-08-18T22:19:02","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T14:19:02","slug":"john-kinsella-on-xi-chuan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3260","title":{"rendered":"John Kinsella on Xi Chuan: How Many ‘I’s?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last week Xi Chuan and I flew to Perth, Australia, to take part in the launch conference in Margaret River for their joint China-Australia Writing Centre<\/a>. West Australian poet John Kinsella was in attendance, and afterword he wrote a wonderful blog post titled “How Many I-s in the Hotel of Xi Chuan?” Here’s a bit from the beginning:<\/p>\n

A few days ago I had the privilege of hearing the Chinese poet from Beijing, Xi Chuan, reading from his work and discussing it, along with his English-language translator Lucas Klein. What grabbed me even before the reading began was Xi Chuan\u2019s statement that his poetry was not of a single \u2018I\u2019, but rather a cluster of I-s. I don\u2019t think any poet is a single I, and I have often over the years argued against denoting a unified self …<\/p>\n

What Xi Chuan outlined as his reason for stating this, his need for such a declaration, struck me as deeply relevant and vital. He discussed having a \u2018hotel in [his] head\u2019 which is inhabited or co-inhabited by a number of other voices which are not his own. This is not so much a conceptual statement of artistic practice as one of deep necessity. In that hotel, or maybe boarding house, are those who have been lost or extinguished, those whose voices were taken from them, who were forced into silence …<\/p>\n

It was clearly painful for Xi Chuan to discuss this, and what began as a kind of ironising (of all notions of innovation, of himself, of us all) quickly became a deeply-felt \u2018confession\u2019 of obligation and respect, of necessity. It was witness carried to the extent of giving away one\u2019s sense of unified self (should even the idea exist) to a polyvalent (my interpolation) self. Not many selves, but many other selves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Last week Xi Chuan and I flew to Perth, Australia, to take part in the launch conference in Margaret River for their joint China-Australia Writing Centre. West Australian poet John Kinsella was in attendance, and afterword he wrote a wonderful … 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":[3,16],"tags":[1641,462,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-QA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1725,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1725","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":0},"title":"Xi Chuan at Harvard","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Event Title: Notes on the Mosquito \u2013 Poetry Reading and Talk by Xi Chuan \u897f\u5ddd Speaker: Xi Chuan Moderators: David Der-wei Wang, Lucas Klein Friday March 8, 2013 12:00-1:30pm Common room, 2 Divinity Ave.? Sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the CCK Foundation Inter-University Center\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readings"","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harvardealc.org\/images\/2Div-outside.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1731,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1731","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":1},"title":"Xi Chuan on Translating Poetry at Middlebury","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Tuesday, 3\/12, 4:30 PM: Translating Poetry: A roundtable discussion with Chinese poet Xi Chuan, Central Academy for Fine Arts (Beijing), and his translator, Assistant Professor Lucas Klein of City University of Hong Kong, and Middlebury College faculty. Xi Chuan is one of the most well-known contemporary poets writing in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readings"","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/middleburywashandcarry.com\/images\/2003-10-07d_middlebury_college.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/middleburywashandcarry.com\/images\/2003-10-07d_middlebury_college.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/middleburywashandcarry.com\/images\/2003-10-07d_middlebury_college.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":602,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=602","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":2},"title":"Xi Chuan at the MLA–Today!","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"from the MLA's listing: 347. A Creative Conversation with the Chinese Poet Xi Chuan Friday, 6 January, 5:15\u20136:30 p.m., Grand B, Sheraton Program arranged by the Office of the Executive Director Presiding: Christopher M. Lupke, Washington State Univ., Pullman Speaker: Xi Chuan, Central Acad. of Fine Arts, Beijing Session Description:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Poetry Nights"","block_context":{"text":"International Poetry Nights","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":585,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=585","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":3},"title":"Xi Chuan in Croatian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been in touch with great Croatian poet Miroslav Kirin, who'll be using my translations of Xi Chuan for the basis for new versions of Xi Chuan in Croatian. More on this story as it develops.","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=869","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":4},"title":"New Directions Poet of the Week: Xi Chuan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Directions website posts a featured \"Poet of the Week,\" and this week it's Xi Chuan! In addition to posting sections of my translations of Xi Chuan's \"The City I Live In\" \u6211\u5c45\u4f4f\u7684\u57ce\u5e02, \"Beast\" \u5de8\u517d, and \"On My Meaningless Life\" \u5173\u4e8e\u6211\u7684\u65e0\u610f\u4e49\u7684\u751f\u6d3b, the feature also quotes from my introduction giving\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":605,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=605","url_meta":{"origin":3260,"position":5},"title":"Monday Evening in Seattle","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"from the Seattle Public Library's web calendar: Chinese poet Xi Chuan reads from works Jan. 9 at The Seattle Public Library Chinese poet, essayist and translator Xi Chuan will read from several of his works, including \"Yours Truly & Other Poems\" and \"Notes on the Mosquito: Selected Poems,\" from 7\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260"}],"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=3260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3263,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions\/3263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}