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Words as Grain

New and Selected Poems

Duo Duo author Lucas Klein translator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Yale University Press

Published:13th Jul '21

Should be back in stock very soon

Words as Grain cover

Longlisted for the 2022 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, this authoritative new collection by one of China’s most lauded poets is “a thrill to read” (Drew Calvert, Asymptote)
 
Words as Grain offers Zen koan-like poems that call for rereading and contemplation. As the poet himself says in ‘Reading Great Poems,’ ‘let the dialogue between thought and silence continue.’ We are fortunate to be a party to this sustained and intense dialogue.”—John Bradley, Rain Taxi
 
While keeping a cautious distance from literary trends and labeling, Duo Duo has emerged as one of the world’s preeminent poets. His poems respond to the Chinese political landscape from the Cultural Revolution to the Tiananmen Square tragedy and beyond. Some are written from the vantage point of exile abroad, others in his homeland, but all inscribe an ache for original expression, a sense of place, and the essence of language. In exacting renderings by award-winning translator Lucas Klein, this career-spanning anthology features Duo Duo’s entire oeuvre since his return to China in 2004, as well as a representative selection of his earlier poems, presenting nearly five decades of work. This collection traces the evolution, in a particular historical context and cultural tradition, of one of the most vibrant poets at work in the world today.

Longlisted for the 2022 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, sponsored by PEN America

“Hard-hitting yet elusive, Duo Duo’s poetry speaks to body and soul alike. Klein’s translations are uncompromising and gripping, just like the source texts. This writing is inimitable. Words as Grain gives pride of place to a truly unique voice in poetry.”—Maghiel van Crevel

ISBN: 9780300227390

Dimensions: 197mm x 127mm x 24mm

Weight: unknown

280 pages