Poets of the Chinese Revolution


Book Description

How poetry and revolution meshed in Red China The Chinese Revolution, which fought its way to power seventy years ago, was a complex and protracted event in which groups and individuals with different hopes and expectations for the Revolution competed, although in the end Mao came to rule over the others. Its veterans included many poets, four of whom feature in this anthology. All wrote in the classical style, but their poetry was no less diverse than their politics. Chen Duxiu, led China’s early cultural awakening before founding the Communist Party in 1921. Mao led the Party to power in 1949. Zheng Chaolin, Chen Duxiu’s disciple and, like him, a convert to Trotskyism, spent thirty-four years in jail, first under the Nationalists and then under their Maoist nemeses. The guerrilla leader Chen Yi wrote flamboyant and descriptive poems in mountain bivouacs or the heat of battle. Poetry has played a different role in China, and in Chinese Revolution, from in the West—it is collective and collaborative. But in life, the four poets in this collection were entangled in opposition and even bitter hostility towards one another. Together, the four poets illustrate the complicated relationship between Communist revolution and Chinese cultural tradition.




A Poet's Revolution


Book Description

"The first full-length biography of British-born poet Denise Levertov (1923-1997) brings to life a major voice in American poetry during the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on exhaustive archival research of Levertov's entire opus and on interviews with dozens of the poet's friends, Donna Krolik Hollenberg's authoritative biography captures the full complexity of Levertov's entire opus and on interviews with dozens of the poet's friends, Donna Korlik Hollenberg's authoritative biography captures the full complexity of Levertov as both a woman and an artist, and the dynamic world she inhabited"--Front jacket flap.







Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution


Book Description

“To read these poems is to be reminded again and again of our true allegiance to each other.” —from the introduction by Julia Alvarez With a powerful and poignant introduction from Julia Alvarez, Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution is an extraordinary collection, rooted in a strong tradition of protest poetry and voiced by icons of the movement and some of the most exciting writers today. The poets of Resistencia explore feminist, queer, Indigenous, and ecological themes alongside historically prominent protests against imperialism, dictatorships, and economic inequality. Within this momentous collection, poets representing every Latin American country grapple with identity, place, and belonging, resisting easy definitions to render a nuanced and complex portrait of language in rebellion. Included in English translation alongside their original language, the fifty-four poems in Resistencia are a testament to the art of translation as much as the act of resistance. An all-star team of translators, including former US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera along with young, emerging talent, have made many of the poems available for the first time to an English-speaking audience. Urgent, timely, and absolutely essential, these poems inspire us all to embrace our most fearless selves and unite against all forms of tyranny and oppression.




The Black Romantic Revolution


Book Description

The prophetic poetry of slavery and its abolition During the pitched battle over slavery in the United States, Black writers—enslaved and free—allied themselves with the cause of abolition and used their art to advocate for emancipation and to envision the end of slavery as a world-historical moment of possibility. These Black writers borrowed from the European tradition of Romanticism—lyric poetry, prophetic visions--to write, speak, and sing their hopes for what freedom might mean. At the same time, they voiced anxieties about the expansion of global capital and US imperial power in the aftermath of slavery. They also focused on the ramifications of slavery's sexual violence. Authors like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, George Moses Horton, Albery Allson Whitman, and Joshua McCarter Simpson conceived the Civil War as a revolutionary upheaval on par with Europe's stormy Age of Revolutions. The Black Romantic Revolution proposes that the Black Romantics' cultural innovations have shaped Black radical culture to this day, from the blues and hip hop to Black nationalism and Black feminism. Their expressions of love and rage, grief and determination, dreams and nightmares, still echo into our present.




Poetry of the Revolution


Book Description

Martin Puchner tells the story of political and artistic upheavals through the political manifestos of the 19th and 20th centuries. He argues that the manifesto was the genre through which modern culture articulated its revolutionary ambitions and desires.




Poets of the Chinese Revolution


Book Description

This is a book of poems by four veteran Chinese revolutionaries. Chen Duxiu led China's early cultural awakening before founding the Communist Party in 1921. Mao led the Party to power in 1949. Zheng Chaolin, Chen Duxiu's disciple and, like him, a convert to Trotskyism, spent 34 years in jail, first under the Nationalists and then under Mao. The guerrilla Chen Yi wrote poems in mountain bivouacs or the heat of battle. All wrote in the classical style, which Mao Zedong officially proscribed, though he and other leaders kept using it. Poetry, especially classical poetry, plays a different role in China, and in Chinese revolution, from in the West - it is collective and collaborative. The four poets were entangled with one another in various ways. Chen Duxiu inspired Mao, though Mao later denounced him. Mao and Zheng joined the leadership under Chen Duxiu in the 1920s, though Mao later gaoled Zheng. The maverick Chen Yi was Zheng's associate in France and Mao's comrade-in-arms in China, but he clashed with the Maoists in the Cultural Revolution. Together, the four poets illustrate the complex relationship between Communist revolution and Chinese cultural tradition.




Revue Révolution issue 4 : 11 Poets, 19 Archetypes, 1 Inertia (bilingual English/French)


Book Description

André Malraux, a French secretary of state for cultural affairs and author of Man's Fate (1933), is said to have said, "The 20th century will be spiritual or will not be," a statement still valid in our times. What needed to happen in the 20th century is not happening in the 21st either. This issue has been created in the aftermath of the pandemic and questions inertia with poetry and mythology, which has been the doorway to spirituality from times immemorial. But Reality commands myth and the Spirit commands us to drop stories. This second edition of our initial fourth issue features 19 archetypes, 9 poets, and 2 artists who have collaborated to R4 and whose poetry harmonizes somehow with our core message. Note: Revue Révolution has moved away from free verse after 2022. Contributors: Michael Brosnan, Sue Burge, Darek, Joe Kidd, Maria Linares Freire, Joanna Makoumbou, Catherine McGuire, Ermira Mitre Kokomani, Murielle Mobengo, Ben Nardolilli, and Charles Baudelaire. _____ On attribue à André Malraux, secrétaire d'État français aux affaires culturelles et auteur du Destin de l'homme (1933), les mots suivants : "Le XXe siècle sera spirituel ou ne sera pas". Cette affirmation, qui ne serait finalement pas de lui, est moins poncive qu'il n'y paraît. Ce qui devait se produire au 20ème tarde à se produire au 21ème. Les religions organisées décrépissent et abandonnent la noblesse des symboles, de l'Universel même, qu'elles avaient juré de protéger. Ce numéro de Revue Révolution est né en quarantaine, peu avant la fin de la pandémie de Covid 19. Il questionne l'inertie et la pertinence du symbole et de la mythologie en poésie. Que devient un symbole vidé de sa substance, de son essence, de Dieu lui-même? Peut-on réellement ôter le Divin de l'équation humaine, et si oui, à quel prix? C'est dans le Réel que se trouve la réponse à cette question. Notre histoire récente est terrifiante, complexe, comme une histoire de grands, une histoire d'adultes. Si l'on ne peut plus voir le Divin dans Ses symboles, il faut murir et le chercher dans la Raison. Le Réel lui-même nous le commande. Guidée par 19 archétypes, ce quatrième numéro de Revue Révolution présente 9 poètes et 2 artistes en quête de sens et d'harmonie. Cette deuxième édition de R4 a fait place nette, table rase, avant l'abandon d'une certaine vision de la poésie, qui serait purement cathartique, égoïste et aurait perdu de son universalisme. C'est le Divin, l'absolu, qui parle à travers le poète, dans l'éternité. Le petit moi qui tempête et rage en vers maladroits est déjà obsolète. Revue Révolution remercie les Poètes et Artistes d'Amérique, d'Europe et d'Afrique ayant répondu à son appel à textes de 2022 en collaborant à ce numéro bilingue: Ermira Mitre Kokomani, Catherine McGuire, Sue Burge, Michael Brosnan, Darek, Maria Linares Freire, Joanna Makoumbou, Murielle Mobengo, Ben Nardolilli, Joe Kidd, et Charles Baudelaire.




Welsh Poetry of the French Revolution, 1789-1805


Book Description

This anthology of Welsh poetry and English translations presents some of Wales's radical and reactionary responses to the French Revolution and its cultural legacy, 1789-1805.




Writers, Writing, and Revolution


Book Description

This book is a study of the role of writers in social revolutions. It explores how writing and writers have shaped revolutions, and how they continue to do so. It also investigates the connection between writers and radicals, outlining some of the historical, political, social, and intellectual connections between writers and revolution. Overall, this is a book of political theory, literary theory, and political action; it is a call for writers to work towards Socialism.