| Midnight's Gate: Poetry Contributor(s): Dao, Bei (Author), Fryslie, Matthew (Author), Mattison, Christopher (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0811215849 ISBN-13: 9780811215848 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 2005 Annotation: Bei Dao has gained international acclaim over the last decade for his haunting interior poetic landscapes; his poetry is translated and published in some twenty-five languages around the world. Now, in Midnight's Gate, Bei Dao redefines the essay form with the same elliptical precision of his poetry, but with an openness and humor that complements the complexity of his poems. The twenty essays of Midnight's Gate form a travelogue of a poet who has lived in some seven countries since his exile from China in 1989. The work carries us from Palestine to Sacramento. At one point we are led into a basement in Paris for a production of Gorky's Lower Depths, the next moment we are in the mountains of China where Bei Dao worked for eleven years as a concrete mixer and ironworker. The subjective experience deepens and multiplies in these essays, filled with the stories of ordinary Chinese immigrants, as well as those of literary, artistic, and political figures. And it all coheres with a poet's observations, meditations, and memories. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Essays - Literary Collections | Lgbt |
| Dewey: 895.115 |
| LCCN: 2004028185 |
| Series: Rainmaker Translations |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.1" W x 7.8" (0.61 lbs) 255 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Twenty essays about Bei Dao's life in exile since Tiananmen Square.Knowledge of death is the only key that can open midnight's gate.Bei Dao Bei Dao has gained international acclaim over the last decade for his haunting interior poetic landscapes; his poetry is translated and published in some twenty-five languages around the world. Now, in Midnight's Gate, Bei Dao redefines the essay form with the same elliptical precision of his poetry, but with an openness and humor that complements the complexity of his poems. The twenty essays of Midnight's Gate form a travelogue of a poet who has lived in some seven countries since his exile from China in 1989. The work carries us from Palestine to Sacramento. At one point we are led into a basement in Paris for a production of Gorky's Lower Depths, the next moment we are in the mountains of China where Bei Dao worked for eleven years as a concrete mixer and ironworker. The subjective experience deepens and multiplies in these essays, filled with the stories of ordinary Chinese immigrants, as well as those of literary, artistic, and political figures. And it all coheres with a poet's observations, meditations, and memories. |
Contributor Bio(s): Dao, Bei: - Bei Dao, born in Beijing in 1949, has traveled and lectured around the world. He has received numerous international awards for his poetry, and is an honorary member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Bei Dao, now a U.S. citizen, is currently Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.Mattison, Christopher: - Christopher Mattison has translated and edited numerous works from Russian and Chinese to English. In 2010 he moved to Hong Kong where he is the Director of the Sustainability of Memory and Artifacts (SOMA) Project at City University of Hong Kong. |