The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets in Translation is an outstanding read.

For reasons that are discussed in the book itself, translator Yilin Wang, found themselves the center of attention after the British Museum used her work without permission or pay, and when asked to please address that, they responded in the most British Museum-ish way ever, by pulling not only the translation, but the original words of feminist poet Qiu Jin from their exhibit, symbolically silencing both the women that had made them look foolish.

So, when Wang said that their translations were forthcoming in a new book, I hastened to pre-order it to show my support for both Wang and Qiu Jin. I am so glad I did. I’ve been reading this books slowly, savoring each poem, delving into the translator notes and realizing how much I have missed by not attending to Chinese poetry.

Qiu Jin is best known as a revolutionary in post-revolution China, but in her poems it is clear that she did not appreciate the gendered nature of clothes, or life choices. She was known for dressing in men’s clothes, learning to read, write, ride horses and doing activities that were (and, in some places, still are,) assumed to be “for men.”

“To always strip off hair ornaments to pay for books” – Qiu Jin was clearly one of us. ^_^

I loved her poems so much. Although her loneliness is not mine, I share her rage for the unjust treatment of women. But, perhaps, even more powerful than the poetry itself, is Wang’s essay about their connection to Qiu Jin through time and space. Wang’s insights into the poets she is translating are a form of poetry themselves. I described Wang’s work as “translating and enriching” the work, because we learn the how and why of their choices, when both Chinese as a language and poetry as a medium favor ambiguity and layers over clarity or specificity.

As much as I really enjoyed Qiu Jin’s poems, it is Dai Wangshu‘s single line, “I think, therefore I am a butterfly” that has changed my life. The way he so deftly combines two iconic globally recognizable philosophical statements actually made me gasp out loud. By combining Descartes and Zhuang Zi, Dai Wangshu is able to combine two of his own multitudes – as he was a translator of western work into Chinese.

Fei Ming’s work gave me the sense that the New Culture Movement was oddly akin to Dada, and then, suddenly, I am reading Xiao Xi, writing about a world I know and I have lived in.

Sometimes, one anticipates a book and finds it to be…satisfactory. The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets in Translation exceeded my every expectation.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

I’ll be watching Wang for more work and will be taking recommendations on Chinese feminist poetry now.

The links above are directly to the publisher’s site, but The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets in Translation is also available on Amazon and other online bookstores.