What do you think?
Rate this book
A Tower Built Downwards
A Tower Built Downwards is the latest instalment of poetry from one of the most innovative and influential poets from China. Before and since his enforced exile from 1989, Yang Lian has been widely hailed in America and Europe as a highly individual voice in world literature, he has been translated into many languages.
The different sections – short poems, sequences, and one long poem – form a single comprehensive statement of Yang’s recent explorations. It is rooted in his living experience of the historical retrogression of Hong Kong, the disaster of Covid-19, the global spiritual crisis, as well as his personal sadness at events such as his father’s death. Yang Lian's work was criticised in China in 1983 and formally banned in 1989 when he organised memorial services for the dead of Tiananmen while in New Zealand. This edition of A Tower Built Downwards contains the full, unabridged collection, including poems that were removed for its publication in China.
The different sections – short poems, sequences, and one long poem – form a single comprehensive statement of Yang’s recent explorations. It is rooted in his living experience of the historical retrogression of Hong Kong, the disaster of Covid-19, the global spiritual crisis, as well as his personal sadness at events such as his father’s death. Yang Lian's work was criticised in China in 1983 and formally banned in 1989 when he organised memorial services for the dead of Tiananmen while in New Zealand. This edition of A Tower Built Downwards contains the full, unabridged collection, including poems that were removed for its publication in China.
- GenresPoetry
160 pages, Paperback
Published June 6, 2023
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Yang Lian
59 books13 followersYang Lian (Chinese: 楊煉 Yáng Liàn; born 22 February 1955) is a Swiss-Chinese poet associated with the Misty Poets and also with the Searching for Roots school. He was born in Bern, Switzerland in 1955 and raised in Beijing, where he attended primary school.
His education was interrupted by the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution after 1966. In 1974 he was sent to Changping county near Beijing to undergo 're-education through labor', where he undertook a variety of tasks including digging graves. In 1977, after the Cultural Revolution had ended and Mao Zedong had died, Yang returned to Beijing where he worked with the state broadcasting service.
His education was interrupted by the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution after 1966. In 1974 he was sent to Changping county near Beijing to undergo 're-education through labor', where he undertook a variety of tasks including digging graves. In 1977, after the Cultural Revolution had ended and Mao Zedong had died, Yang returned to Beijing where he worked with the state broadcasting service.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 8, 2024
This book is a rich and intriguing destabilization / unsettling (in the sense of both verb and adjective) of the nature poem, and a refreshing & honest & often invisiblized account with the brutality of the COVID pandemic (both locally to China and universally). I recommend it to those with some knowledge of Chinese (this enriched my own experience, but is by no means required!).
That said, this book was quite long, and would have benefited from being cut down by ~1/3. I really appreciate tightness in poetry texts, and this one suffers from a higher ratio of dud poems than I’d expect to see in a strong collection.
That said, this book was quite long, and would have benefited from being cut down by ~1/3. I really appreciate tightness in poetry texts, and this one suffers from a higher ratio of dud poems than I’d expect to see in a strong collection.
September 10, 2023
The images started strong and stayed strong one after the other. This is a powerful collection spanning 2019-2022. It touches on historical Chinese poets, the pandemic, his fathers death and life in general.
I’m going to have to revisit this during a less busy period of time for me because truly this writing was on another level. For those who loved imagery (even if you don’t always know what the poem is saying) this is for you.
I’m going to have to revisit this during a less busy period of time for me because truly this writing was on another level. For those who loved imagery (even if you don’t always know what the poem is saying) this is for you.
August 29, 2024
An astonishing book. Every page takes me somewhere, to writing, to life and death, to poesis
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews