MCLC: Li Bifeng reading (4)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: Li Bifeng reading (4)
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Source: Martin Winter's blog (6/7/13):
http://erguotou.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/about/

What is Chinese literature about? Exile, inner exile. Inside China,
banished. Happened to many poets through the ages, including the most
famous. Teaching Latin in a high school in Vienna, a friend of our uses Du
Fu. Du Fu, Brecht, Theodor Kramer, Guido Zernatto. She teaches Latin, so
exile comes from Ovid. Epistulaes ex ponto. From Casablanca. No, it's that
port city on the Black Sea, in Romania. Constantza. Like Tristan Tzara. Z
or S? Whatever. Du Fu. They use an old edition from the 1930s. Brought
into verse by H. Not just translated, not directly. That's how they used
to do it. No, that Du Fu edition is very accurate, from the feel of it.
Two great volumes, large and thick. Not rhymed. But rather formal. Not
luosuo. No superfluos words. Hardly. Again, from the feel of it, I haven't
checked, just listened and read. Listened, our friends read well. Very
down-to-earth, daily details. Ants, chicken. Fencing in chicken, thinking
about it. A reference to the times, the circumstances. Suddenly becoming
political, as our friend says. Towards the end. A moral at the end, maybe
more in this German version than in Chinese. Circumstances, Du Fu's
circumstances. He always complains, says our friend. Very down-to-earth,
very daily life. Strife, poverty, famine. Starving on the streets. We have
a master's thesis on Tang Poetry social critique in Vienna, from 1990.
Anna Maria Eigner. Bai Juyi, many different poets. Li Shangyin wrote a lot
about poverty in the countryside. Not in is most famous poems,
unfortunately.

Daddy, who is this?
He is called Li Bifeng. I just translated a poem by him. He is in prison.
They are all in prison. This one is a writer, too.
Why is he in prison?
He took part in protests, demonstrations. Demonstration, you remember what
that is? Yes, we were in one together this year.
Where is this?
This is in China.
What else did he do?
He organized strikes. Do you know what strikes are?
No.
Strikes are when workers in a factory say they won't work, all of them. To
get better pay. To get insurance, you know what that is? When you are sick,
to get money from insurance so you can get a doctor, go to hospital.

Daddy, are there any places with no government?
Good question. There are some places where women are in charge. They own
the
land, they run things. Used to. Sometimes still do. Places in China.
Well, they should. Women are important. Women bear children.
I don't know if there are any places with no government. There are some
places with not many people at all. Deserts, mountains.

A Yu (born 1994)
DOCUMENTARY: HE JUMPED FROM THE TOP OF THE BUILDING

he jumped from the top of the building
peng!
he was dead
it wasn't like he had seen it
on tv
on tv
the contractor who owed migrant workers
when he heard someone would jump
right away he came out with his pay
but this time
no-one held him back
that's how he died
peng!

2012
Tr. MW, 2013