SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This article makes a bold statement in the field of Translation Studies and diverges from previous literary criticism on Chinese poetry. It begins with the statement that translation provides us with detailed information about the original, which enhance the act of reading. On the basis of the findings of a comparative analysis between different translations of Yang Lian’s work the paper then proceeds to explore the functional significance of some linguistic devices for the coherence of poetic texts. In particular, it focuses on the use of personal pronouns, finding that in almost all Yang Lian’s early poems (from 1979 to 1989) the personal is present through the first personal pronoun I; while in the poems after 1989 the persona pronoun I is less frequent, being substituted by the pronoun of self-address you, or being simply absent. Elaborating on these findings, the paper examines the varieties and possibilities offered by Yang Lian’s poetry: from the early notion of a single identity of the self as a constant poetic voice, to the notion of subjectivity as something which is constantly relational, interactive, context-based. The results are quite striking, pointing at some correspondence between geography and creative process. However, the article argues that this correspondence is not easily classified as exile subjectivity, but is a more complex psychological displacement to be added to the physical one.