Drifting in the world literary space: travel and self-exile in Leung Ping-Kwan’s poems

Title:

Drifting in the world literary space: travel and self-exile in Leung Ping-Kwan’s poems

Creator:

Pan, Chienwei

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:fc9c5032-8573-49f5-9aa5-ba932029bd22
uuid:fc9c5032-8573-49f5-9aa5-ba932029bd22
doi:10.47979/aror.j.89.2.389-411

Subject:

Hong Kong literature, East Asian literature, travel accounts, self-exile, and small literature

Type:

model:article and TEXT

Format:

bez média and svazek

Description:

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.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
policy:public

Coverage:

389-411

Source:

Archiv orientální | 2021 Volume:89 | Number:2

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false