This posthumous collection is a detailed, retrospective look at one of the more brilliant poetic minds of the twenty-first century, and includes an introduction by Bai Hua and afterword by Bei Dao. A dark humor vivifies Zhang Zao's later work as he eroticizes the harrowing: doubt, finality, and then nothingness. The choice of these poems is retrospective: "Mirror," one of his earliest and best known works starts the collection, while "Lantern Town" was written less than two months before his death.Elegya letter opens and someone saysit's getting coldanother letter opensit is empty, emptyyet heavier than the worlda letter openssomeone says he is singing from a mountain heightsomeone says no, even if the potato was deadthe inertia alive in itwould still grow tiny handsanother letter opensyou sleep like a tangerinebut after peeling off your nudity someone sayshe has touched another youanother letter opensthey are all laughingeverything around explodes into laughtera letter opensclouds and water run wild outsidea letter opensI am chewing a certain darknessanother letter openshigh moon in the skyanother letter opens and shoutsdeath is something realTranslator Fiona Sze-Lorrain co-edited the Manoa anthologies, Sky Lanterns (2012) and On Freedom: Spirit, Art, and State (2013), and is the translator of three previous Jintian titles, including Lan Lan's Canyon in the Body and Wind Says by Bai Hua.
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An epic voice, dark humor and historical references emerge in this bilingual volume by a contemporary exile
Introduction: After the Epic Voice by Fiona Sze-LorrainPrefacePoetics of a Mirror Bai HuaMirrorWho Art Thou*Autumn Drama*Late Autumn StoryThe Blissful Corduroy Dance*The Prince of Chu Dreamed of RainEarly Spring, FebruaryMetaphor of DeathMemories of Mount LuCloud SkyFly*Love and Death of a German Spy in the England of a Sweet Nightingale*[a lyric sequence]1. [No butter. War chews on moldy crusts]2. [Sweet nightingale. Keats' nightingale withdraws into dawn]3. [I ask, Who are you.... That is, how did you]4. [He sings, the singing drunkard walks past]5. [Guard mounting on Wednesdays. Under the window thedrunkard walks past]6. [Sweet nightingale. We close our eyes and wait]Schermanski the German Soldier's Death SentenceChairs Sit into Winter...Kafka to Felice* [a sequence of sonnets]1. [My name is Kafka, if you recall]2. [Snowy night of Prague, from scissoring alleys]3. [Yet fatal is the breakthrough. Highest]44. [O night, you are always less than night]5. [When can men see themselves]6. [Reading is murder; I dislike]7. [A sudden stroll: blood that spurs me on]8. [Autumn soon, and soon I will]9. [Men gaze at it for long, so what]UmbrellaMidnight BreadElegyTalisman*The Lark This YearGrandfather*At Thirty*Dialogue with Tsvetaeva [a sequence of sonnets]1. [My black eyes smile at you with affection]2. [Every day I dream of Eternal Laments. Clouds drifting]3. [... as usual, I bury my head in the empty cup]4. [Our eyelashes - why do they leap in foreign land]5. [Sunlight is a wolf from time to time, sauntering]6. [Cherries, a scarlet red, as if waiting for someone to return]7. [Back in Moscow, you suffer a cold rebuff]8. [Dawn in the east. A scene filled with static comes to an end]9. [People can't explain everything around them]10. [Taking off my glasses, I wish to translate for the deaf and themute]11. [... yes, Your Honor, the moon surges]12. [Will there really be a September goodbye]Nightview, New YorkChefHomeland*A Key Dedicated to C. R.GrandmotherIn the ForestWest Lake DreamClouds* [a lyric sequence]1. [When I, with a skull heaped with sky-blue mushrooms]52. [A leaf. This universe stretches its tongue into]3. [Where are we? Beyond miles]4. [You are turning two today; mermaids leap from out of nowhere]5. [... mirages fade. Desktop, the ruins of elves]6. [Over the horizon, nurses are bustling]7. [You pick up a cub, when the tiger]8. [You are turning two today ; when you awake]Long, Long AgoLetters in Four SeasonsLook, Brother, These Empty Bottles...VergeSong of Earth*Off to Jiangnan*WorldSong of a Wall Driller and the Ultimate Ear*Drunken SongAdieu Schloss SolitudeFatherSitting Listlessly*A Wildly Noble Glass of Water*High WindowOn the Pacific Ocean, A Small Island CountryLord Xiang*The Invisible Opium War*Lantern TownAfterword by Bei DaoNotesBibliography
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Print ads in Chinese Literature Today, Rain Taxi and Poetry FlashOnline advertising through social media to English- and Chinese-language communities via zephyrpress.org, jintian.net, and cerisepress.comPoems appearing in Antigonish Review, Manoa: A Pacific Journal ofInternational Literature, Modern Poetry in Translation, and POEMSpecial promotion at AWP, AAS and ALTA conferences.http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/979/Zhang-Zaofeature campaign about the Jintian series of contemporary Chinese poetry to Asian-American and literary interest publicationsGiveaway copies to Goodreads and Library ThingE-postcard announcement to media, and review copies to poetry publicationsAdvance galleys to Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Booklist
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781938890154
Publisert
2017-08-24
Utgiver
Vendor
Zephyr Press
Høyde
203 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
01, G, G
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
260

Forfatter
Oversetter
Introduksjon ved
Afterword by

Om bidragsyterne

Zhang Zao: Began writing in the early 1980s, inspired by the so-called "obscure" ("Misty") poets who emerged after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, but determined to go beyond these writers in terms of his experimentation with language. He eventually developed a style that blended Eastern and Western influences. He moved to German in 1986 where he worked as a recognized literary critic, translator and scholar of German literature and philosophy. He died in 2010 at the age of 48.

Fiona Sze-Lorrain: Writes and translates in French, English, and Chinese. Her recent work includes "My Funeral Gondola" (published as a Manoa Books title from El Leon Literary Arts in 2013), and "Water the Moon" (Marick Press, 2010). Co-director of Vif editions and one of the editors at Cerise Press, she is also a zheng concertist. Her translation of "I Could Almost See the Clouds of Dust," by Yu Xiang (Zephyr 2013) was long-listed for the 2013 PEN Poetry in Translation Award. She has translated two other Zephyr titles: "Canyon in the Body," by Lan Lan, and "Wind Says," by Bai Hua.

Bei Dao: Bei Dao is considered one of China's most important writers. He is the most notable member of the "Misty Poets" and co-founded and co-edited "Jintian" ("Today") magazine. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Bai Hua: The central figure of the post-"Misty" poets, Bai Hua is one of the most influential of contemporary Chinese poets. His book "Wind Says," translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain, was published by Zephyr in 2012.