Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
by Bei Dao
translated by Bonnie S. McDougall
(New Directions. 144 pp..
$16.95, J)8.95 paper)
Hit
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gether with the reality of VVe.stcrn military and technical power. Western
poetry, in most cases Romantic poetry,
entered these traditions like a breath of
fresh air. Ihe excitement at the strange,
exotic poetry of Europe was not unlike
the West's excitement on encountering
Asian literary traditionsbut in this
case the excitement was coupled with
cultural shock, and often with national
humiliation.
Romantic poetry opened up a whole
new range of topics and modes of treatment, a whole new sense of what poetry
is. Yet Romantic poetry usually arrived in
translation, or through an imperfect
knowledge of the original languages.
Thus it came to China, as to other cotmtries. with little sense ofthe weight ofthe
cultural and literary history that lay behind it. It appeared as a poetry free of
history, which was the very lie that Romantic poetry told ahout itself, that it was
a miraculously new ihing. Nobody who
knows English poetry well can believe
that particular myth about English Romantic poetry (China's particular colonial poetic import), but to the outsider
the claim of novelty was credible, and it
gave a hope of escape from a history that
seemed to have failed.
rom that first hope for a poetry free of history, for
words that could be transparent vehicles ofthe liberated imagination and pure human feeling, many early twentieth-centnry poets
in Asian traditions created new poetries
that sought to break with their past. It
was a grand hope, but it was rarely realized successfully. After the initial encounter witb Romantic poetry, Chinese
poetry of this century has continued to
grow by means of the engagement with
modernist Western poetry; and as in any
cross-cultural exchange that goes in only
one direction, the culture that receives
influence will always find itself in the secondary position. It will always appear
slightly "behind the times." The VVestern tiovel was successfully assimilated
and transformed, hut the new poetries of
Asia often seemed thin and wanting, particularly in comparison to tbe glories of
traditional poetry.
overtly and topically political is a small literary trimnpli in the I'etiplc's Republic of
China, tbough it is hardiv teinarkahle in
ibe context ofour hypothetical world |)oetry. In ber introduction. McDougall
makes tbe wise and essential point tbat a
Irtily apolitical poetry is impossible in
sucb a highly politicized world, that an osten.sibly apolitical poetry is itself a strong
political statement. Bei Dao pays bis political dues in the more conventional
coinage, in poems that demonstrate his
"political correctness" in opposing tbe
regime. Btit he is also capable o[ more.
estern readers will generally
welcome tbe
apolitical dimension of
Bei Dao's poetry as more
perfectly representing the range a "world
poet" should have. Vet an interesting
problem arises here. Chinese readers of
"new poetry" wiib whom I have spoken
tend to admire Bei Dao's earlier, more
engaged political poetry, and thev tend to
deplore his turn auay from politics lo
more private concerns. Wbo decides
what is valuable, what is a good tendency,
in a poet's worktbe Western reader or
tbe Cbinese reader? Wbose stump of approval carries more weight? Scbolars of
modern Chinese literat ure often object U>
ibe imposition oi Western criteria of literaryjtidgment on Chinese literature. It is a
wise caution. Bui is ibis Chinese literature, or literature that began in ibe Chinese language? For wbat imaginary attdifiicc bas tbis poetry been written?
In another metamorphosis of the image, the song-cloud, international traveler, and page of white paper can be- larger wind blowing iu the surrounding
come tbe flight of a wbile crain.-, uliitb worlrl. Tbe .song-clotid that issued from
is tbe traditional Chinese figure of tbe poet's lips undergoes yet anothei'
imniortiilit\:
metamoipbosis and becomes j snow-
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