Not Written Words

by Xi Xi, 西西, Jennifer Feeley (Translator)

Xi Xi's work details the constantly shifting urban space of Hong Kong—between tradition and modernity—as well as the multilingual zones created by its Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Best known for her short stories, essays, and screenplays, this is the first major collection of Xi Xi's poetry in English translation. Her writing displays a childlike wonder and keen ear for the constantly evolving space of Hong Kong and southern China. The haunting, often morbid lyricism that marks her work has won her many awards, a devoted following in Hong Kong and Taiwan and a growing audience across the globe. The book is bilingual (facing pages).

Genres: Poetry, China

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2015

About the author

Xi Xi (Chinese name: 西西) was born in Shanghai in 1937 and moved to Hong Kong in 1950. She is one of the most acclaimed writers in the Sinophone world. Hailed by critics as a major and unique voice in global Sinophone literature and a stylistic innovator across genres, she has published more than 30 books of different genres in addition to newspaper and magazine columns and screenplays. Xi Xi is the winner of the 6th Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in 2019.

Reviews

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know much about poetry, but what I know is that Xi Xi's poems interweaved the everyday with history, language and literature in a way that was refreshing and surprising. Her position as a film critic, fiction writer, educator and editor allows her to articulate her ideas in idiosyncratic ways, employing playful puns, homonyms, and wordplay to create a garden of language for the reader to roam through. Feeley's translator's notes are also enormously helpful in illuminating these poems. A must-read, especially for those who feel close to Hong Kong.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Jennifer Feeley accurately describes in the Translator's Introduction, Xi Xi's "poems mine the richness of both the aural and written aspects of Chinese to craft clever wordplay". Jennifer Feeley's creative and playful translation gives the poems second lives—it is a pure pleasure to read. Although one may say Jennifer Feeley at times over-translated Xi Xi's work, as Xi Xi writes in one of her poems and the translator admits, all "Translations are simply transitions".

The Notes at the back of the book are also interesting—they help readers to understand the translator's intention behind translating Xi Xi's poems.

My favourites include "At Marienbad", "The Merry Building", "This Is Not a Poem", "A Striped Tiger in a Thicket of Green Grass", "See", "The Letter Writer", "June" and "Driving Through Palestinian Refugee Camps".

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this --- kind of unusual. Poetry about Hong Kong, about high rises and fast food, but really beautiful. What a great poet, and clearly a very talented translator.

[Shannon]

faves:
- What I’m Thinking of Is Not Written Words
- The Letter Writer
- June
- Moon
- Pigeon Rock
- Supermarket

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

jennifer feeley is such a detailed, thoughtful translator, even more so in person and describing her thought process.