Recenzovaná publikace, vydaná jako první svazek monumentálního projektu „Zlaté ruce“, mnohooborovým způsobem mapuje historii využívání a zpracovávání dřeva v kultuře českých zemí. Kolektiv autorů téma pojal v udivujícím rozsahu a detailnosti, rovnocennými součástmi díla jsou text a početný soubor ilustrací. and The publication under review, whose title may be translated as “The Message of Wood: A Bridge between the Past, the Present, and the Future,” is the fi rst volume of a huge interdisciplinary project called “Zlaté ruce” (Real Craftsmanship) charting out the history of the use and processing of wood in the culture of the Bohemian Lands. The group of authors has conceived the subject on a remarkably large scale and in great detail, with articles and illustrations being given equal weight.
For Hong Kong poet Leung Ping-Kwan (penname: Ye Si, 1949-2013), travel allows him to visit literary capitals, in which his works are translated into local languages. Without regarding himself as merely a Hong Kong writer, Leung intentionally reminisces about his travel accounts in these literary centers, accentuating how his life is permeated by European traditions. This essay examines the trope of travel in Leung Ping-Kwan’s poems along with his prose essays, focusing on the dialectical thinking of centers and peripheries. I contend that the idea of travel points to the poet’s personal experiences as well as his literary endeavors while embarking on his poetic journeys. I adopt the notion of “self-exile” to describe the moment when Leung stays away from his native land and ponders on how Hong Kong Literature – the so-called “small literature” – can raise its visibility if it is presented in the international literary scene. Specifically, he draws several routes to the literary centers, Paris and Berlin in particular. And without simply being assimilated into the dominant literary culture, Leung usually writes in Chinese and tactically inserts the images of Hong Kong while illustrating the European urban imageries.