What do you think?
Rate this book
Midnight's Gate: Essays
Twenty essays about Bei Dao's life in exile since Tiananmen Square. "Knowledge of death is the only key that can open midnight's gate." Bei Dao Bei Dao has gained international acclaim over the last decade for his haunting interior poetic landscapes; his poetry is translated and published in some twenty-five languages around the world. Now, in Midnight's Gate , Bei Dao redefines the essay form with the same elliptical precision of his poetry, but with an openness and humor that complements the complexity of his poems. The twenty essays of Midnight's Gate form a travelogue of a poet who has lived in some seven countries since his exile from China in 1989. The work carries us from Palestine to Sacramento. At one point we are led into a basement in Paris for a production of Gorky's Lower Depths , the next moment we are in the mountains of China where Bei Dao worked for eleven years as a concrete mixer and ironworker. The subjective experience deepens and multiplies in these essays, filled with the stories of ordinary Chinese immigrants, as well as those of literary, artistic, and political figures. And it all coheres with a poet's observations, meditations, and memories.
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Bei Dao
84 books122 followersName in Chinese: 北岛
Bei Dao ("Northern Island") is another name for Zhifu Island.
Bei Dao literally "Northern Island", born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai. He was born in Beijing. He chose the pen name because he came from the north and because of his preference for solitude. Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution.
As a teenager, Bei Dao was a member of the Red Guards, the enthusiastic followers of Mao Zedong who enforced the dictates of the Cultural Revolution, often through violent means. He had misgivings about the Revolution and was "re-educated" as a construction worker, from 1969 to 1980.[5] Bei Dao and Mang Ke founded the magazine Jintian[6] (Today), the central publication of the Misty Poets, which was published from 1978 until 1980, when it was banned. The work of the Misty Poets and Bei Dao in particular were an inspiration to pro-democracy movements in China. Most notable was his poem "Huida" ("The Answer") which was written during the 1976 Tiananmen demonstrations in which he participated. The poem was taken up as a defiant anthem of the pro-democracy movement and appeared on posters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. During the 1989 protests and subsequent shootings, Bei Dao was at a literary conference in Berlin and was not allowed to return to China until 2006. (Three other leading Misty Poets — Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian — were also exiled.) His then wife, Shao Fei, and their daughter were not allowed to leave China to join him for another six years.
Since 1987, Bei Dao has lived and taught in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and the United States. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages, including five poetry volumes in English[7] along with the story collection Waves (1990) and the essay collections Blue House (2000) and Midnight's Gate (2005). Bei Dao continued his work in exile. His work has been included in anthologies such as The Red Azalea: Chinese Poetry Since the Cultural Revolution (1990)[8] and Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese poetry.[9]
Bei Dao has won numerous awards, including the Tucholsky Prize from Swedish PEN, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Jintian was resurrected in Stockholm in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese writers. He has taught and lectured at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Beloit College, Wisconsin, and is Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bei Dao ("Northern Island") is another name for Zhifu Island.
Bei Dao literally "Northern Island", born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai. He was born in Beijing. He chose the pen name because he came from the north and because of his preference for solitude. Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution.
As a teenager, Bei Dao was a member of the Red Guards, the enthusiastic followers of Mao Zedong who enforced the dictates of the Cultural Revolution, often through violent means. He had misgivings about the Revolution and was "re-educated" as a construction worker, from 1969 to 1980.[5] Bei Dao and Mang Ke founded the magazine Jintian[6] (Today), the central publication of the Misty Poets, which was published from 1978 until 1980, when it was banned. The work of the Misty Poets and Bei Dao in particular were an inspiration to pro-democracy movements in China. Most notable was his poem "Huida" ("The Answer") which was written during the 1976 Tiananmen demonstrations in which he participated. The poem was taken up as a defiant anthem of the pro-democracy movement and appeared on posters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. During the 1989 protests and subsequent shootings, Bei Dao was at a literary conference in Berlin and was not allowed to return to China until 2006. (Three other leading Misty Poets — Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian — were also exiled.) His then wife, Shao Fei, and their daughter were not allowed to leave China to join him for another six years.
Since 1987, Bei Dao has lived and taught in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and the United States. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages, including five poetry volumes in English[7] along with the story collection Waves (1990) and the essay collections Blue House (2000) and Midnight's Gate (2005). Bei Dao continued his work in exile. His work has been included in anthologies such as The Red Azalea: Chinese Poetry Since the Cultural Revolution (1990)[8] and Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese poetry.[9]
Bei Dao has won numerous awards, including the Tucholsky Prize from Swedish PEN, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Jintian was resurrected in Stockholm in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese writers. He has taught and lectured at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Beloit College, Wisconsin, and is Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 28, 2023
我喜欢作家娓娓道来自己的故事。
December 30, 2024
Astounding collection of essays, written by Bei Dao in exile across the globe.
Favourite essay was the last one, "Uncle Liu."
"S was a poet in the truest sense. Most poets put on a show of threatening bravado, bearing their fangs and hinting at dark intentions. His subdued and gentle elegance was uncommon. He listened intently to others with his melancholy eyes focused on them, and he spoke like a somnambulist, as if trying to correct reality within dream."
"As Octavio Paz said, poetry is a third voice apart from religion and revolution. This voice cannot truly eliminate hatred, but perhaps can alleviate it to some degree."
Favourite essay was the last one, "Uncle Liu."
"S was a poet in the truest sense. Most poets put on a show of threatening bravado, bearing their fangs and hinting at dark intentions. His subdued and gentle elegance was uncommon. He listened intently to others with his melancholy eyes focused on them, and he spoke like a somnambulist, as if trying to correct reality within dream."
"As Octavio Paz said, poetry is a third voice apart from religion and revolution. This voice cannot truly eliminate hatred, but perhaps can alleviate it to some degree."
October 21, 2014
This is a writer's writer writing about literary adventures in a creative nonfiction/essay format. So, it's not for everybody.
It is, however, a wonderful book, full of insight and humanitarian perspective. The title essay is about Dao's trip with Wole Soyinka (Nobel Laureate) into Israel and Gaza. Other essays cover his life among bohemians and poor people, the margins. Bei Dao has some outrageously entertaining friends. The book is warm, comforting, expansive and absolutely perfect for a travel reading.
I love this book. Go read it.
It is, however, a wonderful book, full of insight and humanitarian perspective. The title essay is about Dao's trip with Wole Soyinka (Nobel Laureate) into Israel and Gaza. Other essays cover his life among bohemians and poor people, the margins. Bei Dao has some outrageously entertaining friends. The book is warm, comforting, expansive and absolutely perfect for a travel reading.
I love this book. Go read it.
January 19, 2008
A collection of personal essays by the Chinese poet Bei Dao, this volume is part travel journal, part memoir, and part random musing. Dao is observant and at times sharply funny but the collection is also somewhat remote and digressive. It’s hard to say what each essay is about, perhaps a place or a person but to what end? It was an interesting read but a little too post-modern, if that’s the term, for me.
March 16, 2007
Worth it for its unblinking portraits of Chinese expats he encounters, and a few Europeans, too. Besides that Bei Dao's politics come off as unsophisticated and he seems to float indifferently through the literary festivals he attends.
If you're looking to understand this genius of contemporary imagism, and perhaps the greatest surrealist working in literature, this book won't help you much.
If you're looking to understand this genius of contemporary imagism, and perhaps the greatest surrealist working in literature, this book won't help you much.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews