Frontier Taiwan: An Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry

ANNOTATION

Best Books of 2001, LA Times

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Taiwan has evolved dramatically from a little-known island to an internationally acclaimed economic miracle and thriving democracy. The history of modern Taiwanese poetry both parallels and articulates this transformation from peripheral colony to economic and cultural center. Comprehensive in both depth and scope, Frontier Taiwan beautifully captures individual poets' achievements in the nation's modern poetic traditions. Containing translations of 400 poems from 50 poets spanning the entire twentieth century, this anthology reveals Taiwan in a broad spectrum of themes, forms, and styles: from lyrical meditation to political satire, haiku to concrete poetry, surrealism to postmodernism. The in-depth introduction outlines the development of modern poetry within Taiwan's unique historical and cultural context.

SYNOPSIS

Containing translations of nearly 400 poems from 50 poets, this anthology reveals Taiwan's 20th-century transformation in a broad spectrum of themes, forms, and styles: from lyrical meditation to political satire, haiku to concrete poetry, surrealism to postmodernism. The in-depth introduction outlines the development of modern poetry in the un

FROM THE CRITICS

Bei Ling - Los Angeles Times

The pages of Frontier Taiwan are abundant with imagery of anti-colonialism, war, displacement, mainlander pride, islander pride and modernism. These expressive themes differentiate Taiwanese poetry from that of the mainland, and we find further variations wherever we look--in grammar, presentational structure, vocabulary and voice. Such differences have expanded the expressive capacity of modern Chinese.

Choice

Sensitive fidelity to denotative and connotative meanings of the original Chinese and smooth, often inspired English. The 50-page introduction by Yeh is superb— a comprehensive, nuanced scholarly overview of the historical social, political, cultural, and linguistic forces that combine to make Taiwan a unique example of what Chinese poetry may become when visions of past, present, and future mingle with issues of local identity, national politics, and international influences. . . . Strongly recommended.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

The first English-language anthology to provide a truly comprehensive view of poetry in Taiwan.

Publishers Weekly

Mainland China continues to try to bring the "breakaway Republic" of 22 million (and the 13th largest economy in the world) of Taiwan back into the fold, but as editor and scholar Yeh shows in her introduction, Taiwanand its poetryhas always been a complicated mix of influences. Multicultural and multilingual syntheses continue to characterize Taiwanese poetry, as this landmark collection, simultaneously published in Taibeiand, surprisingly, Beijingmakes clear. The first "modern" Taiwanese poems (eschewing classically ordained styles and subjects) were written in Japanese in the early 1920s, when Taiwan had been ruled by Japan for more than 30 years. The French-influenced surrealist experiments of the Le Moulin Poetry Society of the '30s were dubbed "decadent" by contemporary critics, but (as Yeh notes) Li Zhangrui's "This Family" remains a devastating critique of bourgeois torpor. Taiwan was returned to China at the end of WWII, and the government moved to purge Japanese elements from the language, with only partial success, but the Modern Poetry, Blue Star and Epoch poetry societies of the early '50s were made up of Chinese-speaking and -writing migr s. In the '60s, modern poetry finally won the support of the universities, which has both professionalized and radicalized it since. While few U.S. readers will recognize the names here, the translations (by various hands) are solid, letting the work speak across cultures. But the main impact of this book will be sociopolitical, allowing connections between writers who might have had difficulty finding each other without this judicious letter of introduction. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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