This issue contains the verse of twenty-four poets. From 1924, when Hsieh Chun-mu first published four “Poems in Imitation,” the development of new poetry in Taiwan has a history of almost one hundred years. The roots of new poetry in Taiwan with its “twin flower bulbs,” to use the phrase coined by Chen Chien-wu, has now bloomed and borne fruit. It manifests diversified themes, and places great stress on both artistic expression and social concern. It recognizes globalization as the major trend of the times, and maintains a dynamic balance between nativist consciousness and the ensibilities of the Chinese cultural diaspora. Taiwan literature and its new poetry written in Chinese should have a place in the Chinese world community,as well as in the history of world literature. Limited by the space allowed for the journal, we could only select works related to “local” and “quotidian” writing. Yet we hope to observe through these works the manner in which the unique charm and gracefulness of contemporary poetry from Taiwan has blossomed in the garden of world literature.
Kuo-ch'ing Tu, born in Taichung, Taiwan. His research interests include Chinese literature, Chinese poetics and literary theories, comparative literature East and West, and world literatures of Chinese (Shi-Hua wenxue). He is the author of numerous books of poetry in Chinese, as well as translator of English, Japanese, and French works into Chinese.
Terence Russell is Senior Scholar in the Asian Studies Center at the University of Manitoba. He has an interest in contemporary literature in Chinese, especially the literature of Taiwan's Indigenous people. Dr. Russell has been a regular contributor to Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series, and was the guest editor of Issue 24 on Taiwan Indigenous myths and oral literature.
Horng Shuling was born in 1962 in Taipei City. She has a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Chinese Literature of National Taiwan University (NTU) and is currently a professor in the Chinese Literature Department of NTU.
【About the Translators】
John Balcom teaches at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His most recent translation is My Village: Selected Poems, 1972–2014 by Wu Sheng, published by Zephyr Press.
Chang Fen-ling received her B.A. in English from National Taiwan Normal University. A prolific literary critic and award-winning translator, she has translated into Chinese over thirty volumes of poetry with her husband Chen Li. She has also translated two books of Chen Li's poems into English, Intimate Letters: Selected Poems of Chen Li and The Edge of the Island.
Yingtsih Hwang is an independent scholar and translator based in Monterey.
Brian Skerratt is an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and International Cultural Studies at National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. His research and teaching focus on modern and contemporary poetry in Chinese, comparative poetics, and ecopoetics. Before joining Chung Hsing, he taught at the Centre for China Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at National Chengchi University and a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University with a specialization in modern and contemporary poetry in Chinese. His publications include articles such as “Born Orphans of the Earth: Pastoral Utopia in Contemporary Taiwanese Poetry,”“Hsia Yü Buys a Computer” and “Zhu Guangqian and the Rhythm of New Poetry.” His translations of Macanese writer Un Sio San's poetry, Naked Picnic, are published by CUHK Press.
Terence Russell is Senior Scholar in the Asian Studies Center at the University of Manitoba. His research interest is in contemporary literature in Chinese, especially the literature of Taiwan’s Indigenous people. His publications include studies of Adaw Palaf, Auvini Kadresengan, and Syaman Rapongan. Dr. Russell has a strong interest in translation and translation theory, and has been a regular contributor to Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series. He was the guest editor of Issue 24 on Taiwan Indigenous myths and oral literature, and now serves as co-editor for the journal. His literary translations include novels by award-winning Chinese author Zhang Wei: September’s Fable (2007) and Seven Kinds of Mushrooms (2009); and most recently, The Spirit of Jade Mountain, by Husluman Vava (forthcoming).
目錄
Foreword to the Special Issue on Contemporary Poetry from Taiwan/Kuo-ch’ing Tu 「台灣當代詩專輯」卷頭語/杜國清 Selections of Contemporary Poetry from Taiwan: The Local and the Quotidian—Introduction to the Special Issue on Contemporary Poetry from Taiwan/Horng Shuling 台灣當代詩選:地方與日常「台灣當代詩專輯」導言/洪淑苓
Poetry
I. The Convergence of Life Experience and Historical Memory 生命經驗與歷史記憶的結合
Chen Chien-wu 陳千武(1922–2012) Poem of Childhood 童年的詩 Carrier Pigeon 信鴿 Mazu’s Birthday 媽祖生 An Old Two-Story House 古屋小樓 Fingernails 指甲 The Drummer’s Song 鼓手之歌
Lin Hengtai 林亨泰(1924–) Subtropics No.1 亞熱帶(1) Subtropics No.2 亞熱帶(2) Village 鄉村 Rest at Sunset 日入而息 Village Opera 村戲 Life 生活 Landscape No.1 風景(1) Landscape No.2 風景(2)
Xiang Ming 向明 (1928–) Tumor 瘤 Hide-and-Seek 捉迷藏 Lesson One 第一課 Plant in a Hanging Basket 吊籃植物 Tattered Army Blanket 破軍氈 A Kite Brought from Across the Sea 隔海捎來一隻風箏
Cheng Chiung-ming 鄭炯明(1948–) I’m a Bird of Thought 我是一隻思想的鳥 Drum 鼓 A Musical Note Reborn—On the Kaohsiung 228 Memorial 重生的音符――記高雄市二二八紀念碑 Immortal Soul—For the Writer Yeh Shih-t’ao 不朽的魂――向文學家葉石濤致敬 The Boat—For Shihong 船――焚寄拾虹 The Screen of the Sky 天空的布幕 Prayer to Death 死亡的祈禱
Bai Ling 白靈(1951–) Kite 風箏 Mountain Temple 山寺 Childhood I: The Forties 童年之一――四十年代 Childhood II: The Fifties 童年之二――五十年代 Springtime Comes to Taipei 春天來臺北小住 The Evening Paper 晚報 Kinmen Kaoliang 金門高粱
Chen Ichih 陳義芝(1953–) Rainy Taiwan 雨水台灣 Invisible Rash 隱形疹子 Private Room in a Cafe, the 1970s 雅座七○年代 Pseudonyms for Hualien 花蓮的筆名 Jade Mountain in Winter 冬日玉山
Lu Han-hsiu 路寒袖 (1958–) Solitary Standing Flower 孤挺花 My Father Was a Train Engineer 我的父親是火車司機 Half-Gauge Train 五分車 Needle 針 The Wardrobe 衣櫃 Gazing at the Rain in April 四月望雨 Seventh Lord and Eighth Lord 七爺八爺
Walis Nokan 瓦歷斯.諾幹 (1962–) Cherry Blossoms 櫻花 Down the Mountain 下山 About the Atayal 關於泰雅 Education in One’s Mother Tongue 母語教學 ID 身分 Grandfather’s Title Deed 祖父的地契
Chan Tah Wei 陳大為(1969–) A Kingdom Full of Phantoms 盡是魅影的城國 In East District 在東區 Younger Days 前半輩子 In the South Seas (excerpts) 在南洋(選五) In the South Seas 在南洋 All Summer, On the River Bank 整個夏季,在河濱 Took Hold of His Palm 接下了掌紋 “Chan Tah Wei” in Simplified Characters 簡寫的陳大為 In Taipei 在台北
II. Taiwan’s Town and Country from the Perspective of“Place”「地方」視角下的台灣鄉土與都市
Tu Kuo-ch’ing 杜國清 (1941–) At Guanwu Gazing Afar to the Shei-pa Sacred Ridgeline 觀霧遠眺雪霸聖稜線 Forest Bathing 森林浴 Gazing Up at Jade Mountain 玉山仰眺 Confessions of Island and Well 島與井的告白 Climbing the Elephant Mountain Path 登象山步道 Passing Through Da’an Forest Park 進出大安森林公園
Wu Sheng 吳晟 (1944–) Daybreak Scene 晨景 Soil 泥土 Map of Yams 蕃藷地圖 The Poems Father Sometimes Writes 阿爸偶爾寫的詩 The Burden 負荷 I Will Not Discuss With You 我不和你談論 He is Still Young 他還年輕
Lee Min Yung 李敏勇 (1947–) This City 這城市 Sunday Afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts 星期天下午在美術館 City Phenomena 城市現象 Street Scene 街景 Underground Radio Station 地下電台 Sunday Blues 星期天的Blues A Summer Afternoon in the Post-Cold-War Age 後冷戰年代一個夏日午後
Su Shao-Lian 蘇紹連 (1949–) Seven Feet of Cloth 七尺布 Hanger 衣架 The Razor 刮鬍刀 Sketches of the Gaomei Wetlands in Bygone Days (selections) 高美濕地舊日掠影(十選二) Oyster Racks 海邊的棚架 Intertidal Zone 潮間帶 Walking the Gray Street―Recollections of a Town in Hard Times 在灰色的街道上步行―記蕭條的鄉鎮 Retirement Psychology 退休心理學 Laolao Pavilion—For Taiwan’s Immigrant Laborers 勞勞亭――寫外籍勞工 Into the Creases of the City 進入城市的摺痕裡 In the Unreal City 在不真實的城市
Li Yu-Fang 利玉芳 (1952–) Primeval Love—Sent to the Gaoping River 原始之愛――寄給高屏溪 The Southernmost Point in Taiwan 台灣最南點 Inside and Outside the Portiere 簾裡簾外