"The Rose of Time" written by Bei Dao and published by China Literature and History Publishing House, "The Rose of Time" collects Bei Dao's poems in the "Golden Chain of the Century" column written in "Harvest" magazine from 2004 to 2005. . These words were written during Bei Dao's journey around the world. In a purely personal way, Bei Dao used the Western New Criticism method of intensive text reading to comment on nine poets who were active in the golden age of poetry in the 20th century, their poems and their lives. These poets are: Spanish Lorca, Austrian Trakel, German poets Rilke and Celan, Swedish poets Transtr?mer, Russian poets Mandelstam, Pasternak, Ikey and Dylan in England. Bei Dao used the word "love" for them. The Bei Dao I know in life is calm and peaceful, always answering questions, rarely exaggerating in words and deeds. Even if he has to complain about all the absurdities he encounters, his voice is calm and composed, making people forget his role as a poet. With this foreshadowing, his "love" makes me awe-struck.
It is rare for Bei Dao to write his "love" so calmly. The words are so pure that they are almost transparent. He is hidden in the depths of words. Just like that late spring, he stood on the streets of an unknown town in Northern California, leading us to see the scenery he discovered. He pointed with his left hand and said how beautiful the scenery here was; he pointed with his right hand again and told where the man walking slowly in the distance came from, what he had endured along the way, how he had written and loved, and how miserable and sick he was. Old man died suddenly... He spoke calmly and peacefully, but because he had the ability to grasp the truth with true knowledge, that silence showed more power than the noise.
I think Bei Dao’s detailed interpretation of the poets’ works in the book is a special contribution to the field of Chinese poetry criticism and even literary criticism. Bei Dao has been made successful by years of positive absorption of Western culture and years of diligent teaching practice in American universities. He was able to sit down and calm down, and he dissected and analyzed the poems word for word for the readers. I may not be able to obtain the same vision as Bei Dao, but all his conclusions are persuasive because they are self-consistent in his theoretical system. Such work should be no more difficult than writing a beautiful poem, but what a hard work it requires!
He selected poems as examples, while also providing translations of poems by translators from different eras, and finally gave his own translation. Bei Dao's translation should be the best among its kind. Firstly, it is because he is fortunate to stand on the shoulders of his predecessors, and more importantly, because he is an outstanding poet himself. When he creates again, he has double magic power. I guess if there is any regret, Bei Dao would probably regret that he could not know more other languages. When a person has a broad global perspective, he will surely realize that foreign languages ??are indeed a powerful weapon for communicating with human civilization.
Interspersed between the lines of poetry interpretation, Bei Dao describes the life of each poet for us, which makes the text style of "The Rose of Time" rich and complex, making it difficult to summarize and define. Most of the poets Bei Dao loves in the book have experienced disasters and ill-fated lives. I originally thought this would be one of the key points in Beidao’s selection. However, Bei Dao told me that he chose these nine poets purely out of love for their poems. Many stories about their lives were learned through reading various versions of poet biographies while doing homework for writing. This reminds me of what Bei Dao said when talking about Mandelstam: "A person with a sense of mission will suffer to some extent, and he must fight against and guide external destiny." - Such Character makes such a poem; such character leads to such a fate, success or failure is nothing. Bei Dao's temperament should be similar to theirs. If not, "love" will be useless.