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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>The first major selection of the mainland Chinese poet in an English translation.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>In a 1989 interview, Han Dong declared that he wrote poetry for nobody, not even himself. He likens the poet to a roofer: I write poetry for the constitution of poetry, just as a roofer gives no thought to who lives in the house whose roof he is covering--he builds to meet the criteria of what a house is. Poetry is not subordinate to purposes beyond itself: its highest purpose is to be without purpose.</p><p><i>So-and-so's come to a sad end . . .<br>In the gloom, he smiles gently, lovingly<br>As if to say I can rely on him in this world of nothingness<br>But the thing is, we could never be sure<br>. . .<br>We probably should and Possibly. . .<br>Earnest words like the thread in a foster mother's hand<br>As she darns a monk's ragged robe<br>That's a story that can't be darned<br>Poor man!--The thread is knotted<br>But the knot in my heart tries to pass through the needle's eye<br>The tree leaves at dusk have an oily gleam</i></p><p><b>Han Dong</b> was born in 1961 in Nanjing, where he continues to work as a full-time writer. He is also a respected novelist--his first, published in translation as <i>Banished!</i> by University of Hawai'i Press, was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008.</p><p><b>Nicky Harman</b> lives in the United Kingdom. Besides translation work, Harman is active on the Chinese translated fiction website Paper Republic and in literary translation organizations in the United Kingdom.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br>Dong Han: When the Cultural Revolution ended, he studied philosophy at Shandong University, graduating in 1982. He subsequently taught philosophy in colleges in Xi'an and Nanjing, finally relinquishing teaching in 1993. <p/>Han Dong began writing in 1980, and has been a major player on the modern Chinese literary scene since the 1990s. He is well-known as one of China's most important avant-garde poets, and is becoming increasingly influential as an essayist, short story writer and novelist.<br>Nicky Harman: Nicky Harman lives in the UK. She works as a translator as well as teaching on a translation studies course at Imperial College London.<br>Her other works in progress including the prize-winning novel Gold Mountain Blues/Jin Shan by Zhang Ling, to be published by Penguin Canada. <p/><br>

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