“Whitman in China” (Publication, 1986)
Year
1986
Text
Li, Xilao. Whitman in China. In : Walt Whitman quarterly review ; vol. 3, no 4 (1986).
http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=wwqr. (WhiW22)
http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=wwqr. (WhiW22)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Li, Xilao
(um 1986) : Professor Department of English, Harper College, Palatine Ill.
Mentioned People (1)
Whitman, Walt
(Long Island, New York 1819-1892 Camden, N.J.) : Dichter, Schriftsteller, Journalist
Subjects
Literature : Occident : United States of America
/
References / Sources
Chronology Entries (10)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1913-1923 |
Guo Moruo studiert Medizin und ab 1915 Englisch, Deutsch und Lateinisch in Tokyo. 1913 liest er The arrow and the song von H.W. Longfellow. 1916 beginnt er sich für Literatur zu interessieren und liest Rabindranath Tagore, Dichtung und Wahrheit von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag von Eduard Mörike, Ibsen, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche und Spinoza. 1919 liest er Hangyakusha von Arishima Takeo. Darin enthalten sind August Rodin, Jean-François Millet und Walt Whitman. |
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| 2 | 1919.1-2000 |
Walt Whitman and China : general. 1955 Achilles Fang : The Imagism-inspired literary revolution of 1917 tolled the bell for the traditional poetry of China ; but it failed to ring in its substitute, probably because it was not even Imagistic. Whitmanism, which propelled literary malcontents toward revolutionary literature, has not succeeded in producing great poetry in China, in spite of the fact that it has been the dominant trait of the new poetry. The search for a workable poetics, a poetics that honestly and earnestly faces the problem of the artist versus society, must go on. 1980 Mark Cohen : Whitman reflected the rise of American capitalism as well as the spirit of democracy. Although Whitman was politically somewhat progressive, as a poet he was often not economical in his diction, too abstract in his ideas, and too confused in his thinking. 1986 Li Xilao : The May Fourth student movement in 1919 is the starting point of modern Chinese literature. Walt Whiman's poetry seemed to be especially commensurate with the spirit of the time. Since Chinese new poets considered themselves to be part of the world new poetry movement pioneered by Whitman, they, and a great number of their readers, turned to him for inspiration. In the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, Whitman seemed to be enjoying a warm welcome by all the major societies : he was held in great esteem by the Creation Society, appreciated by the Crescent Society, and introduced favorably by the Literary Study Society. 1995 Huang Guiyou : Whitman's reception has reached three peaks : the first was during the 1920s and 1930s when China was undergoing a literary revolution characterized by vernacular literature. The second was during the 1940s and mid-1950s, a period notable for the founding of the People's Republic ; Whitman became a source of inspiration and a symbol of freedom as China was plundered by Japan ; translators concentrated on Whitman's poems that displayed a militant spirit, and the sole purpose of these translations was to call on the Chinese people to stand up heroically against Japanese invaders. The third was during the open door policy since the late 1970s, and important phase in modern Chinese history, when a great demand for democracy and freedom and an increasing desire to know the outside world burst open the heavy Chinese door. 1995 Li Yeguang : In the thirty years before the founding of the People's Republic, those who appreciated and introduced Whitman to China were mainly poets, and most of them advocated and persisted in writing free verse, while some worked for the creation of new metrical patterns for many years and still others became famous for their classical poetic compositions. Their perspectives on Whitman varied, but they all respected him and benefited from his works in differing ways. Since the May Fourth movement, the task confronting the Chinese literature revolution has been one of opposing imperialistic and traditional feudalistic cultures with democratic and scientific spirit in order to build a new national democratic literature. Whitman's completely new democratic ideas and his urgent demand for an independent national literature for the New World aim in the same direction. The advocates of Chinese new poetry eagerly aspire to create a free verse or a new metrical poetry to keep pace with the new era, and Whitman, as the radical revolutionist in poetic patterns and the true creator of free verse in the world history, meets the needs of all schools of new poetry in China. Throughout the democratic revolution in China, under the new condition when writers were exploring and creating in the field of poetic art, Whitman became all the more valuable to them. Whitman's influence is felt in the spirit, in the force, and in the style. In socialist China, the study of Whitman has been more and more widely undertaken by younger translators and scholars. Nevertheless, Whitman's influence on Chinese poets continues to grow, and his poetry – which sings of democracy, freedom, modern civilization, and love of mankind – along with his incessant exploration in the ideological field and his bold creation and experience in poetic art are still gaining popularity and depth, still inspiring and encouraging. 2002 Wang Ning : If we read Whitman's poetry next to some contemporary American experimentalist poets, we can undoubtedly find the inherent connections between him and postmodernism. That is perhaps one of the reasons why he is still read and discussed today not only in the West but in China. Another obvious reason Why Chinese scholars discuss Whitman in regard to modern Chinese literature is the unique role he played in the process of China's political and cultural modernity as well as in the Chinese literary modernist movement. During the May 4th period Whitman was one of the very few American poets who had a strong influence on revolutionary Chinese poets. Because the critical and creative reception of Whitman's poetry was absolutely relevant to the Chinese social revolution and to Chinese literary innovation, he as for a long time classified in the tradition of nineteenth-century romanticism. Whitman is now viewed more as a pioneering figure of literary modernism than merely as a romantic poet, for his appearance in the nineteenth century actually anticipated the rise of modernist poetry in the twentieth century, and many of his prophetic and insightful ideas paved the way for the process of modernism in Western culture and Western thought. Compared with what has been achieved in the Western academic circles, Whitman studies in China have a very different orientation : in China, he has always been introduced and studied as a merely romanticist or, as a revolutionary romanticist with his poems of social change highlighted and his symbolic poems virtually neglected. Although the mysterious and symbolic elements in his poems are sometimes mentioned, they are usually dealt with in a cursory way. |
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| 3 | 1919.3 |
Tian, Han. Ping min shi ren Huiteman bai nian ji [ID D29796]. Li Xilao : Arguing that the greatness of Walt Whiman lay in the fact that he was 'but an ordinary man, an American of the new world and a child of Adam', Tian equates Whitman's Americanism with democracy and humanism. He was equally impressed by Whitman's originality in creating free verse : 'He never knows what art poetique is nor diction for the sake of rhyme'. Thus, from the spirit to the form of expression, Whitman offered what the iconoclastic noew poets had been looking for. Tian went so far as to liken the Chinese new poetry to Leaves of grass, claiming both to be a 'barbaric yawp', a 'drunk's songs'. He concluded his article : "Once Whitman's ship of democracy navigated into the Pacific, she startled the so-called dragon king of the East sea, stirring up countless demons and stormy waves alike. Now the Pacific knows no peace any more. Can the ship ever reach our East Asian continent ? That's a question. However, fellows ! Fellows of the Young china ! This ship is bound to carry us Asian people – let alone Chinese compatriots – with her. Those of us already aboard should 'steer then with good strong hand and wary eye, O! ' Long live Walt Whitman ! Long live the Young China !" Wang Ning : Tian not only introduced Whitman's life and work but places particular emphasis on his democratic thought and aesthetic ideals. Obviously, for Tian and other Chinese intellectuals and writers at the time, the greatest significance of Whitman to modern China as well as its literature lies not merely in his forman innovations, necessary as they are, but, more important, in the democratic thought inherent in his poetry, which becomes one of the two most stimulating factors. Huang Guiyou : Tian's analysis spread throughout China. Guo Moruo worte, that he had read and admired the article. Tian and Guo read and translated Whitman and began to greatly value his work. |
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| 4 | 1929 |
Zeng, Xubai. Meiguo wen xue ABC [ID D29706]. Zeng regarded the birth of Walt Whitman as 'one of the glorious pages in the history of American literature' and believed the poet 'wove his whole life into an excellent poem'. Zeng devoted a whole chapter to Henry David Thoreau and noticed the author's protest against American politics of his day and his act of resistance to civil authority but he did not call him 'an absolute anarchist'. According to Zeng, Thoreau is essentially as self-restrained man of individualism. What he practiced in life are no less than exercises in a political art of self-formation in which we can observe fully Thoreau's pursuit of self-culture and aims of life. "American critics usually hold that Hawthorne represents Puritanism in his works. Personally, I do not agree with this idea because Puritanism cannot produce but destroy arts. The reason that arts came into being in New England is nothing but the fact that Puritanism began to decline there. We can find after a thorough examination of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works that he has completely broken away from Puritanism. His works are purely artistic, immune from social problems such as Abolition and reform movements at the time. His purpose is not to elucidate morality, but artistically represent souls." |
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| 5 | 1934 |
Mu, Mutian. [I stand for more learning]. In : Literature and I. (Shanghai : Shanghai Life Bookstore, 1934). "Shame on poets playing upon wind, flowers, snow and moon, in such a critical moment for the nation !... Poets should raise their voices to call forth the people to embark on the national salvation… Aren't we now in need of poets such as Du Fu, Milton, Whitman, Hugo and Shelley ?" |
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| 6 | 1943 |
Xu, Chi. Meiguo shi ge de chuan tong [ID D29887]. Xu Chi contended that the tradition in American poetry is none other than Whitman's tradition of democracy. He drew 'a historical parallel' between two pairs of poets and political leaders : Whitman and Lincoln, Mayakovsky and Lenin. |
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| 7 | 1955 |
[Whitman, Walt]. Cao ye ji xuan. Chu Tunan yi. [ID D29782]. Li Xilao : Chu Tunan said in his preface that Whitman is 'the most distinguished poet of realism and democracy because of his strong opposition to slavery, his aversion to racial discrimination, his love for the laboring people, and his deep sympathy for the oppressed, and what is more, his recognition of the hyprocisy of bourgeois democracy and his extolling of the European revolution and the struggle of the proletariat'. Mark Cohen : The first postface made no mention of Whitman's style or form. The postface of the 1978 edition at least mentions that Whitman created a new 'structure and style'. The original edition suggested that Whitman's poetry 'serves as a warning flare to ward off America's ruling reactionary groups'. The 1978 edition recognizes that these same 'reactionary groups' have since become China's ally. In its place it states that Whitman was not only against 'corrupt bourgeois culture', 'racial oppression' but also 'hegemony'. Hegemony is the Chinese byword for the Soviet Union. New notations of the translator included Whitman's working class background, especially the various professions he worked in, and also his portrayal of Whitman as cognizant of 'the hypocrisy and trickery of the bourgeois' as well as the 'power and greatness of the European revolutions and Paris Commune'. |
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| 8 | 1955 |
Yuan, Shuipai. Chang qing de cao ye [ID D29891]. "When we are reading the poems in which Whitman believed that mankind would reach a better state, we feel intimately as if he were our contemporary. As he imagined a century ago, we feel that his spiritual hand, transcending time and space, was touching our bodies softly." |
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| 9 | 1955 |
Zhou, Yang. Ji nian Cao ye ji he Tang Jihede [ID D29894]. Zhou Yang keynoted Whitman's 'revolutionary character', 'the progressive significance' of his poetry, and 'the most wonderful contribution' he made to the world culture. |
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| 10 | 1959 |
Guo, Moruo. Wo de zuo shi jing guo. In : Moruo wen ji ; vol. 11 (1959). [My experience in writing poetry]. "The unconventional style of Whitman's is very much in harmony with the stormy and progressive spirit of the May 4th era. I was thoroughly overwhelmed by his vigorous, uninhibited and sonorous tone." "Whitman's poetic style, characterized by getting rid of all the conventions, coincides with the sprit of 'Sturm und Drang' of the May 4th period. I was totally shocked by his grand and eloquent tone. Influenced by him, I wrote all these poems full of masculine violence." |
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Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
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