酷我-北美枫

[ericcoliu]

Poem of the Week

Poem Lyrics of Sky Burial Written by Yang Lian, and Translated by Brian Holton

as stones dream of these names
I die once again
in that house of stepping into stillness amid snoring
there are birds outside the window cries of elsewhere
and the speeding-by morning dragging its last red loose
ends over the ground
my face meets another face a single collision
the sky is granite
our forefathers could not escape this tiny cave
the dying flame leaves behind just a hammer
for the ocean carved from darkness
day's blind eyes open
white bones sunken deep unmoving even if
stones dream these names are all snow
tranquilly melting
I dream of those birds wheeling imperceptibly into light
far from the cliffs I dream the dreams of every stone.


Thematic Review:

Most of the poems in Yang Lian’s Non-Person Singular are nothing but a thanatography, and Sky Burial, a literary mortuary, is no exception, a poignant investigation of death and decay. It is an image-filled description of the process of dying as it is understood from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. As one's life approaches its end, senses decay (“stillness”), sound (“snoring” and “cries”) and colour (“red”) fade out until “my face meets another face” as the skull is thrown onto the ground. To the stones which provide cover for them, decaying human bones seems as ephemeral as melting snow. Upon “stepping into [the] stillness” of the post-mortem state, the narrative voice creates the illusion of a separate self that fades away just like “those birds wheeling imperceptibly into light”, and in the end it becomes as emotionless and everlasting as stones are: "I dream the dreams of every stone."


Yang Lian (1955 -- )

Poet, essayist, and literary critic Yang Lian was born in 1955 in Bern, Switzerland, where his diplomat parents were stationed, and he grew up in Beijing. He became to publish his poetry in the late 1970s and was one of the so-called “ambiguist poets” who experimented with new forms and content in poetry which evoked considerable controversy in China in the early 80s. His poems became well-known and influential inside and outside of China in the 1980s. Yang Lian was invited to visit Australia and New Zealand in 1988 and became exiled after the Tiananmen massacre. Since then, Yang Lian has come to terms with the harsh reality of being a poet who is without a nation, and this has prompted a more reflective mood in his work. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages, characterised by a highly personalised system of symbols and metaphors as well as the thematic concern with death. Yang Lian has actively participated in international literature, arts and academic activities and is widely regarded as one of the major voices representing modern Chinese literature. He was awarded the Flaiano International Poetry Prize (Italy, 1999) and his book Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian won the title Poetry Books Society Recommended Translation (UK, 1999).

Brian Holton is currently Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has published several volumes of translations of Yang Lian’s poetry, including Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian (New Castle: Bloodaxe Books, 1999) and Non-Person Singular: Collected Shorter Poems of Yang Lian (London: Wellsweep Press, 1994).
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Poem of the Week

Poem Lyrics of Sky Burial Written by Yang Lian, and Translated by Brian Holton

as stones dream of these names
I die once again
in that house of stepping into stillness amid snoring
there are birds outside the window cries of elsewhere
and the speeding-by morning dragging its last red loose
ends over the ground
my face meets another face a single collision
the sky is granite
our forefathers could not escape this tiny cave
the dying flame leaves behind just a hammer
for the ocean carved from darkness
day's blind eyes open
white bones sunken deep unmoving even if
stones dream these names are all snow
tranquilly melting
I dream of those birds wheeling imperceptibly into light
far from the cliffs I dream the dreams of every stone.


Thematic Review:

Most of the poems in Yang Lian’s Non-Person Singular are nothing but a thanatography, and Sky Burial, a literary mortuary, is no exception, a poignant investigation of death and decay. It is an image-filled description of the process of dying as it is understood from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. As one's life approaches its end, senses decay (“stillness”), sound (“snoring” and “cries”) and colour (“red”) fade out until “my face meets another face” as the skull is thrown onto the ground. To the stones which provide cover for them, decaying human bones seems as ephemeral as melting snow. Upon “stepping into [the] stillness” of the post-mortem state, the narrative voice creates the illusion of a separate self that fades away just like “those birds wheeling imperceptibly into light”, and in the end it becomes as emotionless and everlasting as stones are: "I dream the dreams of every stone."


Yang Lian (1955 -- )

Poet, essayist, and literary critic Yang Lian was born in 1955 in Bern, Switzerland, where his diplomat parents were stationed, and he grew up in Beijing. He became to publish his poetry in the late 1970s and was one of the so-called “ambiguist poets” who experimented with new forms and content in poetry which evoked considerable controversy in China in the early 80s. His poems became well-known and influential inside and outside of China in the 1980s. Yang Lian was invited to visit Australia and New Zealand in 1988 and became exiled after the Tiananmen massacre. Since then, Yang Lian has come to terms with the harsh reality of being a poet who is without a nation, and this has prompted a more reflective mood in his work. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages, characterised by a highly personalised system of symbols and metaphors as well as the thematic concern with death. Yang Lian has actively participated in international literature, arts and academic activities and is widely regarded as one of the major voices representing modern Chinese literature. He was awarded the Flaiano International Poetry Prize (Italy, 1999) and his book Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian won the title Poetry Books Society Recommended Translation (UK, 1999).

Brian Holton is currently Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has published several volumes of translations of Yang Lian’s poetry, including Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian (New Castle: Bloodaxe Books, 1999) and Non-Person Singular: Collected Shorter Poems of Yang Lian (London: Wellsweep Press, 1994).
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[ericcoliu]

Yang Lian's bilingual website is located at http://yanglian.net/yanglian_en/ , which there is a lot of useful information, including profiles, publications, reviews, translations, works, essays, etc.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Yang Lian's bilingual website is located at http://yanglian.net/yanglian_en/ , which there is a lot of useful information, including profiles, publications, reviews, translations, works, essays, etc.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[ericcoliu]

In the texts of the 20th-century new poetry of China, the cultural connotation contained in the imagination of death is profuse and profound. In the essay entitled 略论20世纪中国新诗中死亡想像的文化内涵 and posted at http://www.cnwriter.com.cn/zjzl/zjk/twc/zxzyzp/571_1556.htm , the author selects some of Yang Lian’s poems and writes about the imagination of death in his poems.

“比之活跃于20世纪上半叶诗歌舞台的现代诗人，当代诗人笔下的死亡想像所包含的民族文化意蕴整体上要“稀薄”一些，进入20世纪80年代以来，这种状况愈益明显。与此形成对照的是，许多当代诗人（尤其是青年诗人）笔下的死亡想像却越来越多地带有西方文化色彩，而这与20世纪80年代以来中国当代诗人日益主动自觉地接受西方诗歌文化观念及哲学思潮的影响关系紧密。在其中，杨炼诗歌与戈麦诗歌中的死亡想像在其文化内涵上是比较具有代表性的。
　　杨炼堪称中国当代诗坛表现与书写死亡想像极为突出的一位诗人。20世纪80年代初中期，杨炼积极发动并参与了诗歌界的“寻根思潮”，大面积地借用传统文化遗迹与事物来呈现作品的死亡主题意向。他此一时期的代表作《半坡》、《礼魂》、《西藏》、《敦煌》、《自在者说》等系列组诗包含了比较浓烈的佛家文化色彩。这是杨炼在《西藏》组诗第五首诗《天葬》中的一个诗节：
　　
　　 每次死亡的纯净被提升
　　 高居颠峰，空旷而沉寂
　　 抓紧——整个大地是一只脚环
　　 就在它怀里张开翅膀
　　 骄傲。轻盈。不朽的生命……
　　
　　我们对上述诗句稍微细读一下即可发现，杨炼对于“天葬”过程的想像性叙述，与其说是诗人想表现一种具有民俗意义的“东方奇观”，还不如说诗人想借此传达一种具有东方色彩的宗教文化观念——佛教生死轮回信仰。杨炼在一篇创作随笔中明确地谈到过这方面的话题：“1982年，我自黄土高原旅行归来，笔记本中密密麻麻数百个诗题，渐渐过滤、沉淀、凝结成两块晶体：‘半坡’和‘敦煌’。严格地说，那是一个从人之生存到人之精神的轮回。”（⑶）由此可见，佛教文化观念的确是他许多“文化寻根诗”中死亡想像的一个民族化的文化主题。
　　当然，正如许多论者所指出的那样，杨炼的大量“文化寻根诗”是以现代意识与审美眼光对民族传统文化进行重新“审视”与塑造的。这一点说明在20世纪80年代以来中西方文化交流、碰撞的时代语境中，中国当代诗人对于西方诗歌文化与哲学观念的“单向选择”或“双向交流”都合乎艺术的必然性规律。现在再举杨炼旅居国外后写下的一首作品《死者之年》为例，看看诗人的死亡想像的文化内涵发生了什么变化：
　　
　　 谁说死者会互相拥抱
　　 像一匹匹马 鬃毛银灰
　　 站在窗外结冰的月光中
　　 …… ……
　　 谁说死者已死去，死者
　　 关在末日里流浪是永久的主人
　　 四堵墙上有四张自己的脸
　　 再屠杀一次 血
　　 仍是唯一著名的风景
　　 睡进坟墓有福了 却又醒在
　　 一个鸟儿更怕的明天
　　 这无非是普普通通的一年
　　
　　晦涩是杨炼诗歌的一贯风格与特色。而这首《死者之年》所表现的主旨还是基本能说清楚的：诗人为 “死者”（象喻精神上的流浪者）虚设了一种荒诞性的“死亡场景”，以扭曲变形的方式传达了诗人的死亡体验与感受，表现了诗人对于西方“罪感文化”（请注意诗中“末日”一词的文化含义）的深刻体认。”
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

In the texts of the 20th-century new poetry of China, the cultural connotation contained in the imagination of death is profuse and profound. In the essay entitled 略论20世纪中国新诗中死亡想像的文化内涵 and posted at http://www.cnwriter.com.cn/zjzl/zjk/twc/zxzyzp/571_1556.htm , the author selects some of Yang Lian’s poems and writes about the imagination of death in his poems.

“比之活跃于20世纪上半叶诗歌舞台的现代诗人，当代诗人笔下的死亡想像所包含的民族文化意蕴整体上要“稀薄”一些，进入20世纪80年代以来，这种状况愈益明显。与此形成对照的是，许多当代诗人（尤其是青年诗人）笔下的死亡想像却越来越多地带有西方文化色彩，而这与20世纪80年代以来中国当代诗人日益主动自觉地接受西方诗歌文化观念及哲学思潮的影响关系紧密。在其中，杨炼诗歌与戈麦诗歌中的死亡想像在其文化内涵上是比较具有代表性的。
　　杨炼堪称中国当代诗坛表现与书写死亡想像极为突出的一位诗人。20世纪80年代初中期，杨炼积极发动并参与了诗歌界的“寻根思潮”，大面积地借用传统文化遗迹与事物来呈现作品的死亡主题意向。他此一时期的代表作《半坡》、《礼魂》、《西藏》、《敦煌》、《自在者说》等系列组诗包含了比较浓烈的佛家文化色彩。这是杨炼在《西藏》组诗第五首诗《天葬》中的一个诗节：
　　
　　 每次死亡的纯净被提升
　　 高居颠峰，空旷而沉寂
　　 抓紧——整个大地是一只脚环
　　 就在它怀里张开翅膀
　　 骄傲。轻盈。不朽的生命……
　　
　　我们对上述诗句稍微细读一下即可发现，杨炼对于“天葬”过程的想像性叙述，与其说是诗人想表现一种具有民俗意义的“东方奇观”，还不如说诗人想借此传达一种具有东方色彩的宗教文化观念——佛教生死轮回信仰。杨炼在一篇创作随笔中明确地谈到过这方面的话题：“1982年，我自黄土高原旅行归来，笔记本中密密麻麻数百个诗题，渐渐过滤、沉淀、凝结成两块晶体：‘半坡’和‘敦煌’。严格地说，那是一个从人之生存到人之精神的轮回。”（⑶）由此可见，佛教文化观念的确是他许多“文化寻根诗”中死亡想像的一个民族化的文化主题。
　　当然，正如许多论者所指出的那样，杨炼的大量“文化寻根诗”是以现代意识与审美眼光对民族传统文化进行重新“审视”与塑造的。这一点说明在20世纪80年代以来中西方文化交流、碰撞的时代语境中，中国当代诗人对于西方诗歌文化与哲学观念的“单向选择”或“双向交流”都合乎艺术的必然性规律。现在再举杨炼旅居国外后写下的一首作品《死者之年》为例，看看诗人的死亡想像的文化内涵发生了什么变化：
　　
　　 谁说死者会互相拥抱
　　 像一匹匹马 鬃毛银灰
　　 站在窗外结冰的月光中
　　 …… ……
　　 谁说死者已死去，死者
　　 关在末日里流浪是永久的主人
　　 四堵墙上有四张自己的脸
　　 再屠杀一次 血
　　 仍是唯一著名的风景
　　 睡进坟墓有福了 却又醒在
　　 一个鸟儿更怕的明天
　　 这无非是普普通通的一年
　　
　　晦涩是杨炼诗歌的一贯风格与特色。而这首《死者之年》所表现的主旨还是基本能说清楚的：诗人为 “死者”（象喻精神上的流浪者）虚设了一种荒诞性的“死亡场景”，以扭曲变形的方式传达了诗人的死亡体验与感受，表现了诗人对于西方“罪感文化”（请注意诗中“末日”一词的文化含义）的深刻体认。”
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[fanfan]

[[FAFAFA]]

[星子]

Good.

Thank you for sharing.

Anna
_________________

[[ANNA]]

Good.

Thank you for sharing.

Anna
_________________

[christine]

[[christine]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]