Salsa

by Hsia Yü, Steve Bradbury (Translator)

Originally published in Chinese in 1999, Salsa has been Hsia Yü's most successful collection of poetry, selling thousands of copies in Taiwan and Hong Kong alone. Zephyr Press's 2001 edition Fusion Kitsch included a generous selection of material from Salsa , but this marks the first time that an entire Hsia Yü volume has been translated into English. Hsia Yü studied film and drama at the National Taiwan Academy of the Arts. Besides poetry she writes essays, lyrics, and stage plays. After living for many years in France, she now divides her time between Paris and Taipei.

Genres: Poetry

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2014

Reviews

[John]

“unexpectedly / expressive (how the words carry us forward) our story / is cut short caught up / in someone's else's / for / if we are to presuppose that every single person is / the best possible casting / choice to star in his or her own story this form / along with our dependence on the form and fear / thereof discover we are actually / rather fond of fear though equally / resigned more / or less to quietly / talk this through (how the words carry us forward)”

[Gerry LaFemina]

I can't say whether the translations arethe issue or if these are poems that just don't translate well, but Salsa's poems all sound the same: somewhat disjointed, somewhat cold. This may be postmodernly deliberate, but I felt left out.

[Liwa Sun]

I should have been the translator. pomes are good