Narrative Poem by Yang Lian and translated by Brian Holton

This is poetry from China.

Narrative Poem by Yang Lian translated by Brian Holton is published by Bloodaxe Books. This is a Book originally written in Chinese. This was published in 2017.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781780373515E12.

Narrative Poem, by Yang Lian, is a Chinese poetry collection from China, translated from Chinese by Brian Holton, published by Bloodaxe Books in 2017. It is a Chinese collection by Yang Lian, translated by Brian Holton, that stretches narrative into exile, memory, and philosophical pressure. The title is blunt enough to be mischievous, because Yang Lian’s narratives rarely behave like simple stories; they spiral through history and consciousness. I would not approach it as a book that needs to be solved before it can begin working. Start with the title, the pressure of the translated line, and the feeling of a voice making room for itself in English. The value here is not just metadata or representation. It is the chance to let a particular book create its own weather, its own difficulty, and its own way of asking the reader to listen.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.