The Distance Between the Hunter and the Hunted
A review of Beijing born poet, Bei Dao’s
most recently translated release,
The Rose of Time, New and Selected Poems
- New Directions Paperback
On December 23, 1978, Bei Dao launched the first non-institutional literary journal in China since 1949. It wasn’t long after that, while traveling in Berlin, that he received word that he was banned from ever returning to his native land.
In the interim, he had been writing. a form of poetry that the establishment had labeled menglong – as being “misty” (a less literal translation would be “obscure”) a calling which had occupied him since he took to darkrooms to explore the language he was forbidden to take to the streets.
Bei Dao’s poetry is based in image. But the images themselves are not where the poetry lies. The images unlock a world that is both dark and free, from which Bei Dao cries out: “Let me tell you world, I do not believe!”
Bei Dao’s poetry is a far cry from a cry against humanity, however. On the contrary, it is filled with compassion for those “humble flames” that might peer up at his words and nod in shaky agreement.
For as Bei Dao explains, freedom is nothing but the distance between the hunter and the hunted. And while, in our age one might imagine one is being hunted, by forces unreachable, great or small, Bei Dao suggests a freedom in poetry: “when you are hunting poetry, it turns out you are hunted by poetry. In this sense, you are both hunter and hunted, but poetry is the distance like freedom.”
Eliot Cardinaux
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