Chinese Poetry in Times of Mind, Mayhem and Money (Sinica Leidensia, 86)

"Chinese Poetry in Times of Mind, Mayhem and Money" is a groundbreaking contribution to scholarship, well-suited to classroom use in that it combines rigorous analysis with a lively style. Covering the period from 1980s to the present, it is organized around the notions of text, context and metatext, meaning poetry, its socio-political and cultural surroundings, and critical discourse in the broadest sense. The authors and issues studied include Han Dong, Haizi, Xi Chuan, Yu Jian, Sun Wenbo, Yang Lian, Wang Jiaxin, Bei Dao, Yin Lichuan, Shen Haobo and Yan Jun, and everything from the subtleties of poetic rhythm to exile-bashing in domestic media. This book has room for all that poetry is: cultural heritage, symbolic capital, intellectual endeavor, social commentary, emotional expression, music and the materiality of language - art, in a word. Contents 6 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Conventions 14 List of Illustrations 18 Chapter One Avant-Garde Poetry from China: Text, Context and Metatext 20 1. What Went Before 20 2. The Unofficial Poetry Scene and the Avant-Garde 24 3. Context: Times of Mind, Mayhem and Money 32 4. Text: From Elevated to Earthly and from What to How 42 5. Metatext: Images of Poetry and Poethood 49 6. The Case Studies, and What This Book Wants to Do 69 Chapter Two True Disbelief: Han Dong 82 1. The Rejection of Obscure Poetry 84 2. An Original Poetics 95 Chapter Three Thanatography and the Poetic Voice: Haizi 110 1. Thanatography 114 2. The Poetic Voice 142 Chapter Four Exile: Yang Lian, Wang Jiaxin and Bei Dao 156 1. Poets in Exile 165 2. Exile in Poetry 178 Chapter Five Mind over Matter, Matter over Mind: Xi Chuan 206 1. Spirituality versus Materialism and the Barbarians 208 2. A Different Voice: Poetry Rising, Poets Falling 213 3. Words Capturing Images, Images Capturing Words 234 Chapter Six Fringe Poetry, But Not Prose: Xi Chuan and Yu Jian 242 1. A Wonderful Inadequacy of Definitions 244 2. «Salute» and «File 0»: Poetry or Prose? 248 3. Fringe Poetry 263 Chapter Seven Objectification and the Long-Short Line: Yu Jian 266 1. Objectification and Subjectification 271 2. Long Lines and Blanks 293 Chapter Eight Narrative Rhythm, Sound and Sense: Sun Wenbo 300 1. Content Bias 303 2. «The Program»: Content and Plot 307 3. «The Program»: Form 313 4. Narrativity and Its Context 320 Chapter Nine The Lower Body: Yin Lichuan and Shen Haobo 324 1. Lower Body Poetry 326 2. A Poetic Lineage 357 Chapter Ten Not at Face Value: Xi Chuan's Explicit Poetics 364 1. Explanations, Issues and Alchemy 366 2. A Bigger Picture 379 Chapter Eleven Desecrations? Han Dong's and Yu Jian's Explicit Poetics 384 1. Poethood According to Han Dong and Yu Jian 385 2. Metatextual Styles 411 Chapter Twelve What Was All the Fuss About? The Popular-Intellectual Polemic 418 1. What Were the Issues? 419 2. What Was at Stake? 460 Appendix: A Chronological Bibliography 470 Chapter Thirteen More Than Writing, As We Speak: Yan Jun 478 1. Three-Dimensional Performance 480 2. Writing, Event Culture and Poetry Opening Up 490 Works Cited 494 Index and Glossary 524 9004163824,9789004163829 Brill Academic Publishers

Chinese Poetry in Times of Mind, Mayhem and Money is a groundbreaking contribution to scholarship, well-suited to classroom use in that it combines rigorous analysis with a lively style. Covering the period from the 1980s to the present, it is organized around the notions of text, context and metatext, meaning poetry, its socio-political and cultural surroundings, and critical discourse in the broadest sense. Authors and issues studied include Han Dong, Haizi, Xi Chuan, Yu Jian, Sun Wenbo, Yang Lian, Wang Jiaxin, Bei Dao, Yin Lichuan, Shen Haobo and Yan Jun, and everything from the subtleties of poetic rhythm to exile-bashing in domestic media. This book has room for all that poetry is: cultural heritage, symbolic capital, intellectual endeavor, social commentary, emotional expression, music and the materiality of language - art, in a word.

Chinese Poetry in Times of Mind, Mayhem and Money is a groundbreaking study covering a range of contemporary authors and issues, from Haizi to Yin Lichuan and from poetic rhythm to exile-bashing. Its rigorous scholarship, literary sensitivity and lively style make it eminently fit for classroom use. Covers a range of contemporary authors and issues, from Haizi to Yin Lichuan and from poetic rhythm to exile-bashing. This book is organized around the notions of text, context and metatext, meaning poetry, its socio-political and cultural surroundings, and critical discourse in the broadest sense