The Silk Dragon II
Translations of Chinese Poetry
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
National Book Award–winner Arthur Sze presents a one-of-a-kind anthology that vividly traces Chinese poetry from its centuries-old lyrical traditions up to the present day.
In The Silk Dragon II, National Book Award–winning poet Arthur Sze presents a sophisticated vision of the vitality, diversity, and power of the Chinese poetic tradition. Traveling over one and a half millennia, Sze guides readers through a luminous history of verse, from the contemplative insights of fifth century poet Tao Qian, through Tang dynasty poets such as Wang Wei and Du Fu, and into subsequent centuries in which lived such innovative artists as Li Qingzhao and Bada Shanren, among many others.
Extending the work from the original 2001 volume, The Silk Dragon II then traces classical Chinese poetry’s eruption into the free verse of the modern and contemporary eras, introducing groundbreaking poems by the Chinese Modernist master Wen Yiduo, as well as those from major living poets such as Wang Jiaxin, Zhai Yongming, and Xi Chuan. Through this remarkable journey—deepened by Sze’s personal introduction—we see that the “impossible task” of translation is yet rich with encounter, as both long-lost voices and those still speaking enter the same conversation, with the same vivacity.
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Sze (The Glass Constellation) provides essential context in the preface of this admirable "mini-anthology," explaining that previous anthologies of Chinese poetry "tend to focus either on poems written in classical Chinese up to 1919 or on poems written in the vernacular after the start of the May Fourth Movement," whereas his offers a "slender selection of lyrical poems that starts around 406 CE and moves chronologically into our current time." He succeeds in capturing the verve and range of Chinese poetry, including selections from Li Bai, Zhang Ji, and Wang Yuyang among classical examples, as well as Yang Mu, Chen Li, Yan Li, and Yang Lian from the vernacular. Tao Qian's "Drinking Wine III" offers a lively exuberance ("The birds fly to the woods, singing./ I whistle and whistle on the east veranda—/ go ahead, embrace this life!"), while Wang Han's "Song of Liangzhou" ends with the haunting question, "Since ancient times,/ how many soldiers ever returned?" More recently, Wen Yiduo, who was assassinated by the Kuomintangin 1946, delivers a powerful music in lines like "Water sobs and sobs in the bamboo pipe gutter./ Green tongues of banana leaves lick at the windowpanes." This is a vital introduction to Chinese poetry.
