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My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree
Selected Poems
by Yi Lei
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Pub Date
Nov 03 2020
| Archive Date
Dec 03 2020
Description
One of China’s most significant contemporary poets, co-translated by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith
*Shortlisted for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize*
Yi Lei published her poem “A Single Woman’s Bedroom” in 1987, when cohabitation before marriage was a punishable crime in China. She was met with major critical acclaim—and with outrage—for her frank embrace of women’s erotic desire and her unabashed critique of oppressive law. Over the span of her revolutionary career, Yi Lei became one of the most influential figures in contemporary Chinese poetry.
Passionate, rigorous, and inimitable, the poems in My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree celebrate the joys of the body, ponder the miracle of compassion, and proclaim an abiding reverence for the natural world. Presented in the original Chinese alongside English translations by Changtai Bi and Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith, this collection introduces American readers to a boundless spirit—one “composing an explosion.”
One of China’s most significant contemporary poets, co-translated by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith
*Shortlisted for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize*
Yi Lei published her poem “A Single Woman’s...
Description
One of China’s most significant contemporary poets, co-translated by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith
*Shortlisted for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize*
Yi Lei published her poem “A Single Woman’s Bedroom” in 1987, when cohabitation before marriage was a punishable crime in China. She was met with major critical acclaim—and with outrage—for her frank embrace of women’s erotic desire and her unabashed critique of oppressive law. Over the span of her revolutionary career, Yi Lei became one of the most influential figures in contemporary Chinese poetry.
Passionate, rigorous, and inimitable, the poems in My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree celebrate the joys of the body, ponder the miracle of compassion, and proclaim an abiding reverence for the natural world. Presented in the original Chinese alongside English translations by Changtai Bi and Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith, this collection introduces American readers to a boundless spirit—one “composing an explosion.”
A Note From the Publisher
Yi Lei (1951–2018) received the Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Prize and published eight collections of poems, including A Single Woman’ s Bedroom, The Love Poems of Yi Lei, and Women’ s Age. Her work has been translated into five languages.
Yi Lei (1951–2018) received the Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Prize and published eight collections of poems, including A Single Woman’ s Bedroom, The Love Poems of Yi Lei, and Women’ s Age. Her work...
A Note From the Publisher
Yi Lei (1951–2018) received the Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Prize and published eight collections of poems, including A Single Woman’ s Bedroom, The Love Poems of Yi Lei, and Women’ s Age. Her work has been translated into five languages.
Advance Praise
“Yi Lei’s astonishing poems, steeped in disquiet and desire, are at once aching and incendiary. Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi have coaxed them into English respectfully, inventively, and gorgeously. In her steady interrogations of the female body, selfhood, and the lust for freedom, Yi Lei’s themes at times echo those of Smith herself, who has lent these poems her own urgent voice. In her devoted act of translation, she renders this book as a resonant conversation between two exceptional poets.”—Jhumpa Lahiri
“Yi Lei’s astonishing poems, steeped in disquiet and desire, are at once aching and incendiary. Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi have coaxed them into English respectfully, inventively, and gorgeously...
Advance Praise
“Yi Lei’s astonishing poems, steeped in disquiet and desire, are at once aching and incendiary. Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi have coaxed them into English respectfully, inventively, and gorgeously. In her steady interrogations of the female body, selfhood, and the lust for freedom, Yi Lei’s themes at times echo those of Smith herself, who has lent these poems her own urgent voice. In her devoted act of translation, she renders this book as a resonant conversation between two exceptional poets.”—Jhumpa Lahiri
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Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9781644450406 |
| PRICE |
$18.00 (USD)
|
| PAGES |
192
|
Additional Information
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9781644450406 |
| PRICE |
$18.00 (USD)
|
| PAGES |
192
|
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