Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese Poetry

by Tony Barnstone

From the Beijing Spring of 1979 until the student uprisings of 1989 a new generation of poets flourished in China. Influenced by Western Modernism and increasingly daring in their challenges to state control of their art, these poets disguised political protest and social commentary in shadowy images and metaphors, earning them the name "Misty Poets." Rejecting the Social Realism prescribed by Maoist doctrine, they celebrated subjective experience and individuality, ushering in a new era of artistic expression that has been dampened but not extinguished by the Tiananmen Square massacre. This new anthology is the most comprehensive English sampling available of the work of the Misty Poets and their even younger proteges, many of whom now live in exile in the West, where they continue to reshape Chinese poetry and Literature.

Editor Tony Barnstone offers a generous and representative sample of the work of more than a dozen poets. From more familiar writers such as Bei Dao and Duo Duo to such emerging figures as Zhang Zhen, Bei Ling, and Chou Ping (who composes many of his poems in English), these poets characterize the vibrant reawakening of Chinese poetry. Barnstone's substantial critical introduction places the poets in their cultural, historical, and political context.

Genres: Poetry, China

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Tony Barnstone is the Albert Upton Professor of English at Whittier College and has a Masters in English and Creative Writing and Ph.D. in English Literature from UC Berkeley. His books of poems include Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki (BKMK Press, 2009, winner of the John Ciardi Prize in Poetry), The Golem of Los Angeles (Red Hen Press, 2008, winner, Benjamin Saltman Award); Sad Jazz: Sonnets (Sheep Meadow Press, 2005); and Impure: Poems by Tony Barnstone (University Press of Florida, 1998), in addition to the chapbook Naked Magic (Main Street Rag). He is also a distinguished translator of Chinese poetry and literary prose and an editor of literary textbooks. His books in these areas include Chinese Erotic Poetry (Everyman, 2007); The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry (Anchor, 2005); Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese Poetry (Wesleyan, 1993); Laughing Lost in the Mountains: Poems of Wang Wei (UP of New England, 1991); The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Shambhala, 1996); and the textbooks Literatures of Asia Africa and Latin America, Literatures of Asia, and Literatures of the Middle East (all from Prentice Hall Publishers). Among his awards are a fellowship from the NEA, a fellowship from the California Arts Council, a Pushcart Prize in Poetry, and 1st place in in the 2008 Strokestown International Poetry Prize.

He is the recipient of many national poetry prizes and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, Barnstone has lived in Greece, Spain, Kenya and China. His website is:
http://www.barnstone.com

Reviews

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of the Misty Poets before reading this, but it was one of the most touching poetry anthologies that I've ever read.

[Meagan Cahuasqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this collection of translated poems. Beautiful language and images. Something so raw about the descriptions. They created this weirdly perfect balance of delightful and grotesque. Many if not all the poems discussed the events of Tiananmen Square in some way, and it made me realize I don't actually know the history of it. I only have a vague idea of what happened then. So if anyone has recommendations for me on that history, it would be much appreciated.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poems begins with a thought-provoking 'comments from the editor', written by editor Tony Barnstone. His comments are titled 'Translation as Forgery' "The world, abstracted into language, is written into a poem which you read and abstract to fit your own experience."
I love Chinese poetry, I'll think, but I shake my head and think, no, you like translated Chinese poetry.
What about this? Short of learning Chinese, what should a person do?
Barnstable: " Yet there is always the hope for the translator that, through concentration and dedication she or he might come to the point where the dead author guides the pen across the page like an invisible spirit moving the pointer on a Ouija board."

I need to buy this book.

[Jason Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection has some excellent moments, but overall, I found it uneven.