Writing and Translating Concrete Poetry in Chinese Characters 1

Abstract

In this chapter, the celebrated Taiwanese poet, Chen Li, discusses his own engagement with experimental poetry using Chinese ideograms, and its translation into English and ‘non-verbal’ media. He details how his experimental poetry in Chinese draws upon native Chinese literary traditions, his fascination with puzzles and riddles and also his discovery, as a student, of anthologies of Western concrete poetry. Chen Li discusses in some detail the origins and motivations behind some of his best-known experimental works, including ‘A War Symphony,’ ‘Breakfast Tablecloth of a Solitary Entomologist’ and ‘Tang Poetry Haiku.’