Grass Roots

by Xiang Yang, John Balcom (Translator)

Xiang Yang's poetry stands as elegant testimony to the Taiwan experience. From start to finish, the collection is an articulation of Taiwan's identity imbued with salient cultural details. The range and variety of his seven books of poetry include the development of a new formalism, narrative verse forms, and a strong engagement with Taiwanese dialect poetry. Since the publication of his cycle The Four Seasons (1986) he has written little, publishing but a single collection titled Chaos in 2005. In the intervening years, he has earned a PhD in journalism and moved from journalism to academia, devoting himself primarily to teaching. Apart from writing and his academic life, Xiang Yang is an established woodblock artist.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2014

Reviews

[World Literature Today]

"The poems in Grass Roots speak almost exclusively of the present moment, which in Xiang Yang’s case happens to be the point at which the aesthetics of Chinese poetic tradition and the original aspects of the poet’s voice combine to form something new. Translator John Balcom renders the poems in a measured, understated English that generally eschews the verb in favor of the noun and adjective, thus privileging states over changes. The subjective freedom of his translation suggests a familiarity with Xiang Yang’s poetry that is both advantageous and dangerous, because it allows for richly empathetic translations yet also enables decisions that could easily be called into question." - Canaan Morse

This book was reviewed in the January 2016 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website: http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...