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2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Xia Yu, the Supreme Stylist

Author : Michelle Yeh

Published in: Taiwan Literature in the 21st Century

Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore

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Abstract

This chapter offers a critical analysis of the poetry and poetics of Xia Yu (Hsia Yü 夏宇), a leading poet in the Chinese-speaking world. By focusing on the themes, language, and formal innovations of her work to date, I highlight the unique style and contributions of the poet.

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previous chapter Clipping Wings: A Chronicle and Wang Wen-Hsing’s Art

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From “Never See You Again Is Not a Bad Concept” (永不再見不失為一個好概念) in 88 Self-Selected Poems (88首自選). All translations are mine unless noted otherwise.

A well-known exception is Li Qingzhao (李清照; 1084–1155), who often depicts drinking, on both happy and lonely occasions, in her poetry.

The three poems are “Saw” (鋸子), “A Can of Fish” (魚罐頭), and “Gangster A” (歹徒甲).

Under the penname Li Gedi (李格弟), Xia Yu is an award-winning pop song lyricist. Some of her lyrics are widely known; besides “Painfully Happy,” other examples are “I Am Ugly, But I Am Gentle” (我很醜, 可是我很溫柔) and “Please Give Me a Better Rival in Love” (請你給我好一點的情敵).

There are no page numbers; therefore, the poems are identified by the order in which they appear in The Axis of Spine (2019).

Ventriloquy (1999, p. 20); translation by Steve Bradbury in Fusion Kitsch (2001a, p. 25); I made one modification—deleting the word “Boredom” at the beginning of Line 6 to reflect the original.

“Manifesto I: Filming Must be Finished at the Scene of the Story” (宣言一: 攝影必須在故事的發生地完成), Romance as Sudden Enlightenment (羅曼史作為頓悟) (2019).

“Lead the Goat, Regrets End” (牽羊悔亡), Salsa (1999).

“The Ripest Rankest Summer” (最熟最爛的夏天), Salsa (S. Bradbury Trans.). See also, “The Ripest Rankest Juiciest Summer Ever,” in Xia Yu’s Fusion Kitsch, p. 13. Xia, Y. (2014). Salsa (S. Bradbury, Trans.). Zephyr Press. (Original work published 1999).

No. 29 in The Axis of Spine.

Bradbury, S. (2007). A creative “Mis-Translation” of Hsia Yü’s Pink Noise. Drunken Boat, 9, http://d7.drunkenboat.com/db9/mistran_text/bradbury/Pink%20Noise.html

Douban 豆瓣. (2020). Anonymous review. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://book.douban.com/subject/34972874/

Hanson, R. (2012, April 5). Art on the beautiful island. Rhizome. https://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/apr/5/art-beautiful-island

Morse, C. (2015, January 23). Changing the way we read: A review of Hsia Yu’s Salsa (S. Bradbury, Trans.). Paper Republic. Retrieved from https://paper-republic.org/pers/canaan-morse/changing-the-way-we-read-a-review-of-hsia-yus-salsa-translated-by-steven-bradbury.

Parry, A. E. (2007). Interventions into modernist cultures: Poetry from beyond the empty screen. Duke University Press.

Lee, Tong King (2015). Experimental Chinese literature: Translation, technology, poetics. Brill.

Xia, Y. 夏宇. (1984). 備忘錄 [Memoranda].

Xia, Y. (1991). 腹語術 [Ventriloquy]. 現代詩季刊社 [Modern Poetry Quarterly].

Xia, Y. (1995). 摩擦•無以名狀 [Rub Ineffable]. 現代詩季刊社 [Modern Poetry Quarterly].

Xia, Y. (1999). Salsa.

Xia, Y. (2001a). Fusion Kitsch (S. Bradbury, Trans.). Zephyr Press.

Xia, Y. (2001b). Xia Yu (A. Lingenfelter & S. Bradbury, Trans.). In M. Yeh & N. G. D. Malmqvist (Eds.), Frontier Taiwan: An anthology of modern Chinese poetry (pp. 399–419). Columbia University Press.

Xia, Y. (2007). 粉紅色噪音 [Pink noise]. Garden City Publishers.

Xia, Y., & Li, G. 李格弟. (2010). This zebra/that zebra 這隻斑馬/那隻斑馬 [This zebra/that zebra].

Xia, Y. (2011). 詩六十首 [Poems, sixty of them].

Xia, Y. (2013). 88首自選 [88 self-selected poems].

Xia, Y. (2019). 羅曼史作為頓悟 [Romance as sudden enlightenment].

Xia, Y. (2020). 脊椎之軸 [The axis of spine].

Yeh, M. (1993). The feminist poetics of . Modern Chinese Literature, 7(1), 33–60.

Yeh, M., & Malmqvist, N. G. D. (Eds.). (2001). Frontier Taiwan: An anthology of modern Chinese poetry. Columbia University Press.

Yeh, M. (2008). Toward a poetics of noise: From Hu Shi to Hsia Yü. Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles Reviews (CLEAR), 30, 167–178.

Yeh, M. (2018). Xia Yu and the modernist tradition. In C. Lupke & P. Manfredi (Eds.), Chinese poetic modernisms (pp. 107–131). Brill.

Title: Xia Yu, the Supreme Stylist
Author: Michelle Yeh
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Book: Taiwan Literature in the 21st Century
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-8379-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-19-8380-1

Copyright Year: 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8380-1_6