{"id":3652,"date":"2017-03-20T09:30:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T01:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3652"},"modified":"2017-03-19T22:42:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-19T14:42:56","slug":"stephen-procter-on-xi-chuan-the-contradictory-aesthetics-of-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3652","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Procter on Xi Chuan &#038; the Contradictory Aesthetics of Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnreview.co.uk\/cgi-bin\/scribe?item_id=9814;hilite=stephen%20procter\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/811513661680394240\/CB0sEUlb.jpg?resize=311%2C311&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/811513661680394240\/CB0sEUlb.jpg?resize=311%2C311&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"311\" height=\"311\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnreview.co.uk\/cgi-bin\/scribe?item_id=9814;hilite=stephen%20procter\" target=\"_blank\"><em>PN Review<\/em> <\/a>has published Stephen Procter&#8217;s article on Xi Chuan, &#8220;Xi Chuan &amp; the Contradictory Aesthetics of Revolution.&#8221; Procter writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>While potentially a contradiction might be logically fertile, assisting in the discovery of meaning, the indissolubility of the oxymoron must simply be accepted, with no meaning being made to adhere to it. As Xi Chuan points out, the latter pervade contemporary discourse, in phrases such as \u2018Party-member capitalist\u2019 and \u2018Socialist Market Economy,\u2019 and they are the linguistic legacy of the early days of communist China, which proclaimed the \u2018People\u2019s Democratic Dictatorship.\u2019 According to Xi Chuan, Chinese literary tradition is not just a matter of immersion in the classics, but also of coming to terms with the \u2018minor tradition\u2019 of socialism which has played its own role in shaping the language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Xi Chuan reflects the way in which the margins feed into the centre. As he points out, marginal annotation is the primary means through which Chinese culture has been transmitted. In \u2018That Person Writing,\u2019 it is the unnamed ancient scribe whose modifications flow into the mainstream: \u2018Wittingly or not certain words are altered, wittingly or not he retains his own breath within the views of another. From a humble stenographer, he unwittingly transforms into a minor author, like an ant tethering thought\u2019s kite against the wind.\u2019 By focusing only on the central currents, we miss the process of accumulation through which a culture comes into being, its essential force. The life of tradition is in its transmission, not its preservation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Click the image above for the paywalled article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The PN Review has published Stephen Procter&#8217;s article on Xi Chuan, &#8220;Xi Chuan &amp; the Contradictory Aesthetics of Revolution.&#8221; Procter writes: While potentially a contradiction might be logically fertile, assisting in the discovery of meaning, the indissolubility of the oxymoron &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3652\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1771,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-WU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":629,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=629","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":0},"title":"Almost Island Winter 2012","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Winter 2012 issue of Almost Island is finally here, featuring an essay Xi Chuan wrote in English titled \"Style Comes as a Reward,\" his prose poem \"What the Tang Did Not Have\" \u5510\u671d\u6240\u6c92\u6709\u7684 in my translation, and my translation of \"The Original Way\" \u539f\u9053 by Tang Dynasty man of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Links&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1691,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1691","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":1},"title":"New Issue of Cerise Press","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The new issue of Cerise Press is here, with work by Stephen Kessler, Ron Padgett, Eileen Tabios, Lu Ye \u8def\u4e5f translated by Dian Li , and more. Click the image above for the full issue. see my feature \u201cXi Chuan: Poetry of the Anti-lyric\u201d from an earlier issue, with translations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Links&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cerisepress.com\/images\/issue12\/issue12cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1694,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1694","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":2},"title":"2013 Princeton Poetry Festival Schedule","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday, March 15 Saturday, March 16 Morning 10:00 am - 12:30 pm New Jersey State Finals of Poetry Out Loud Afternoon Afternoon 2:00 pm Gala Opening ReadingIntroduction by Paul MuldoonWinner and Runner-up in Poetry Out Loud Gabeba Baderoon Bei Dao Stephen Dunn Sheriff Ghale Jorie Graham Lizzie Hutton Amit Majmudar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Readings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":109,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=109","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":3},"title":"Xi Chuan Interview","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The inimitable Paul Nelson met Xi Chuan when they both attended the Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival \u9752\u6d77\u6e56\u56fd\u9645\u8bd7\u6b4c\u8282 last August. After Xi Chuan's Copper Canyon reading in Seattle, Paul met with Xi Chuan for an interview, part one of which has just been posted on splab.org. In English, the interview\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Links&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=436","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":4},"title":"Chinese Writers on Writing","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've added a new link to the Bibliography for Xi Chuan list to the right: Chinese Writers on Writing, edited by Arthur Sze, which was published last year as part of a series of on Writing titles published by Trinity University Press. My translation of the Xi Chuan essay is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anthologies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Chinese-Writers-on-Writing-Cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=28","url_meta":{"origin":3652,"position":5},"title":"Write-up of Xi Chuan &#038; Zhou Zan&#8217;s Port Townsend Reading","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Italian translator Matt Rowe attended the recent Xi Chuan \/ Zhou Zan reading, and offered the following write-up: Xi Chuan and Zhou Zan read on Saturday 1 October in Port Townsend, the second stop on their U.S. tour for the new anthology Push Open The Window. The audience was small\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Readings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652"}],"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=3652"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3655,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652\/revisions\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}