Poetry
禮魂
Not translated into English
Yang Lian · 1985
Synopsis
The collection brings together in particular Norlang, a suite written in the winter of 1982-1983 after a trip to Jiuzhaigou, whose title is the name of a Tibetan deity, of a waterfall and of a mountain, and a part of Banpo, named after the Neolithic site near Xi'an. In Norlang, the one who says “I” is a waterfall and a mountain god; in Banpo, a living statue of the goddess Nüwa. The poems question the relations between nature and man, between the masculine and the feminine, between tradition and the present.
Context
The book appeared in 1985 in Xi'an, in a series devoted to young Chinese poets, according to the author's bibliography. Norlang had appeared in 1983 in Shanghai wenxue, and its denunciation in March 1984 in Wenyi bao, which judged it obscure and unhealthy, was an episode of the campaign against spiritual pollution. According to a thesis from Leiden University, the poem awakened among the young poets of Sichuan an interest in local myths, and Ouyang Jianghe has acknowledged its influence. Banpo was written from July 1982 to June 1984. No translation of the collection has been found.
Who it is for
Long poems steeped in myth; the collection has not been translated, but several of the author's books exist in French.
Prizes and reception
In 1988, readers in mainland China ranked him among the ten great poets of the country, according to Aisixiang.
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