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.

No YNN report today as I will be at the Rainbow Book Fair, from 12-6 at the The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 W 13 St, NYC. Come get copies of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga signed by Rica Takashima and I. See you there!

I was going to write a review today of something no one but me cared about (/cough/Hana no Asuka-gumi/cough/) but much more interesting news popped up that I want to share.

Today, Dorling Kindersley (DK), announced that Manga The Visual Guide is available for pre-order! This was the massive project I worked on all summer 2023.

I join luminaries of Anime/Manga researcher Frederick L. Schodt, Jonathan Clements, Rachel Thorn, Zack Davisson to present a pictorial history of manga in the 20th and 21st centuries. I wrote the chapter on 2010s.

Did I mention Yuri, BL and queer manga? Yes, of course I did. ^_^ But the series to write about were given to me, so I did not get to choose (IOW, don’t come at me. ^_^) It was a herculean effort on my part, as I was severely ill when they first approached me about this. But it was done and I am pretty happy with what I gave them – and, of course, I learned a lot while writing it. I think the only series I wrote about that I had read or watched previously to beginning was Golden Kamuy.

I want to thank my local library system for providing me with all the manga I read in order to understand these series. I could not have done it without that. Show your library some love – they are supporting graphic media and helping the next generation get into manga.

Thanks to DK for stalking me down alleyways and cudgeling me into doing this. Thanks to Rachel and Zack for being my emotional support authors, you definitely kept me grounded. And thanks to Cefn for his patience with my slightly addled brain.

This beautiful book will also be a useful starting point for people who want to know more about anime and manga, but don’t know where to begin. And when you are done with it, go look up all the other contributors’ work. They are amazing.

So…that’s what I did last summer. It is slated for a November 2024 release. Hope you like it!