MCLC: Wind Says review

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Wind Says review
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Source: South China Morning Post (2/17/13):

Book Review: Wind Says by Bai Hua (trans. Fiona Sze-Lorrain)
by Amy Russell

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Wind Says
by Bai Hua (translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain)
Chinese University Press
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"A book contains all kinds of dreams." These words sandwich Book, a poem
in award-winning "post-Misty" poet Bai Hua's anthology, Wind Says. The
sentiment is brought home in the collection, which spans decades of the
poet's life and pertains to experiences of determination and inspiration.

But while dreams and hopes are channelled, so, too, are fear and
oppression. Ideals are intermingled with a cold reality (realism is, after
all, a defining characteristic of Misty poetry, a reaction against
restrictions on art during the Cultural Revolution) of politics, struggle
and hardship.

Appearing after more than a decade of poetic silence by Bai, Wind
Saysserves up his works in chronological order, from the 1980s onwards.
Characteristic of Chinese writing, landscapes and nature are prevalent,
but they are less romanticised than one may expect. Nature offers solace
in its transience and temporal flux.

Time is a concept, the poet says, that "has always been the greatest
wonder for me". Translator Fiona Sze-Lorrain was instructed to ensure all
the poems were dated, which draws attention to the development of
particular themes over time. Not only nature, but religion, family,
Chinese culture and history, politics, his vocation as a writer - these
all permeate Bai's works.

Simple ideas - or "encounters", as Sze-Lorrain calls them - span the
years. We traverse from youth to ageing - from young men to The Old Poet.
Later poems are more abstract, incorporating more prose. Indeed, Bai says
that for him (as a writer mainly of critical prose and hybrid texts) the
poetic ideal is of weaving prose with poetry. As is common in Chinese
poetry, metaphors abound but they do not feel contrived. Messages are
conveyed in sharp but poignant images, paying homage to Chinese and
Western writers of the past, as well as to the philosophical tradition in
which Chinese writing is steeped.

Bai's somewhat clipped style lends itself to abstraction and imagist
techniques - perhaps unsurprising given his admiration of T.S. Eliot. The
poems are concise and at times they seem slightly stilted - almost denied
of flow. But Bai leaves a lasting impression. Tension is created between
freedom and restriction - a reflection of his themes, perhaps - as we
encounter stark images recurring across poems.

But one must question how much is lost to the non-Chinese reader in
translation. Inevitably, something of a poem's essence must be eliminated.
This may mean losing depth, through simplification, in an attempt to
honour poetic form. One might ask: is the simplification in Wind Says an
attempt to mimic poetic style? Or a result of omission?

As the poet ages and his poetry alters course, summer remains a constant,
energising source. Bai writes: "Summer is a concept of time in my poetics
… Through this word, I express my lamentations towards life." We encounter
the season in unlikely contexts: "Look, how beautiful politics are/Summer
puts on an army uniform," speaks Summer, 1966.

Repression and speechlessness recur, too, at times coloured red. In
Jonestown (1987), "the whirlpool of hot blood has arrived"; "the teeth of
demonstrations chew on hard times"; and "a girl rehearsed suicide/her
beautiful hair agitated from madness/so tenderly on her helpless
shoulders".

While children often lack freedom or joy, they are another constant
presence - a source of hope, perhaps, harking back to innocent dreams, and
a gesture towards the importance of filial piety in Chinese culture.

Imbued with nostalgia, memory and lamentation, the poems in Wind Saysare
meditative and contemplative in their simplicity, while the additional
material in the book, such as the interview at the end with Bai, provide
an intricate picture of the man and the inspiration behind, and evolution
of, his poems.

In Bai's poetic voice, one can almost feel the winds of change blowing
through the pages.