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sara_shocks's review
4.0
4.5/5 stars; I may check this out again in hard copy, I think my brain engages better with poetry in that format; beautiful, evocative poems here
2000s's review
The translations were so different than the original Mandarin that it was hard for me to keep jumping back and forth which is how I like to read bilingual texts. I liked the originals tho so I'll probs revisit it another time!
benplatt's review
4.0
This is probably more of a 3.5 rather than a 4, but largely due to the questions surrounding this translation that arose in my mind during and after reading this collection. Lei's short collection of work here certainly stands out as distinct, especially, from what I understand, from the writing of earlier Chinese poets that preceded her - she writes directly and passionately about desire, the self, and the erotic body while entangling the self with the natural world in a way that can't help but draw comparisons to Walt Whitman, even if Lei herself hadn't explicitly put her poetry in conversation with Whitman herself. The imagery can be striking, but I couldn't help but be nagged by questions as I was reading it.
Tracy K. Smith, one of two collaborators who translated the work, is up front about her translation decisions in a preface to the collection - this is far from a literal translation, and rather attempts to (with Lei's approval) "build a similar spirit or feeling for readers of American English," resulting in deviations not only in vocabulary but even in the formal elements of the poems. With such a sparse set of poems from such a wide range of time, and with no other translations to compare to, I'm not sure how well that translation approach works. Sometimes the presence of Smith in the poem felt extremely clear, and I couldn't help but wonder where exactly the line was in the poetry I was reading between Smith, Lei, and Changtai Bi, the third collaborator in this translation who served as the intermediary translator between Lei and Smith. Translation is always tricky in this way, the translator is always present in the text, but I'm not always as aware of their presence or left with so many questions about the qualities of the translation. The messiness of the process of translation feels like it's on display here in a way that I'm not often consciously aware of. Without the context of other work translated into English from other translators, I don't have a way of answering these questions either, although I've certainly gained some insight from writers like Andrew Chan in his review at 4Columns (https://4columns.org/chan-andrew/my-name-will-grow-wide-like-a-tree)
Tracy K. Smith, one of two collaborators who translated the work, is up front about her translation decisions in a preface to the collection - this is far from a literal translation, and rather attempts to (with Lei's approval) "build a similar spirit or feeling for readers of American English," resulting in deviations not only in vocabulary but even in the formal elements of the poems. With such a sparse set of poems from such a wide range of time, and with no other translations to compare to, I'm not sure how well that translation approach works. Sometimes the presence of Smith in the poem felt extremely clear, and I couldn't help but wonder where exactly the line was in the poetry I was reading between Smith, Lei, and Changtai Bi, the third collaborator in this translation who served as the intermediary translator between Lei and Smith. Translation is always tricky in this way, the translator is always present in the text, but I'm not always as aware of their presence or left with so many questions about the qualities of the translation. The messiness of the process of translation feels like it's on display here in a way that I'm not often consciously aware of. Without the context of other work translated into English from other translators, I don't have a way of answering these questions either, although I've certainly gained some insight from writers like Andrew Chan in his review at 4Columns (https://4columns.org/chan-andrew/my-name-will-grow-wide-like-a-tree)
sanmeow's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
that was gorgeous. i have no idea how to describe this other than beautiful and every synonym of that word. such beautiful style, i loved it. i love the way she writes about love. i have so many favorites that it's outrageous but i honestly don't care. personal favorites: between strangers, love's dance, a single woman's bedroom, besieged, nightmare, preserved flower, nature aria, mother, a song for heaven earth and humankind.
mystic319's review
4.0
This is an extremely beautiful poetry collection. I loved how Yi Lei intertwines eroticism and nature, particularly with her numerous references to flowers. Additionally, I think her reflections on womanhood and what it feels like to be both trapped by social expectations and liberated by one's own desires is more truthful than many other works I've seen that try to do the same.
I appreciate the translator's introduction, although I felt this collection could have also included the direct translations from Mandarin by Changtai Bi. Since I can't read Mandarin, seeing the changes Tracey Smith made to each transliterated poem would have been very interesting. However, this may be my bias as a student of classics and perhaps the editors did not consider the exploration of the translation itself to be as interesting as the poems.
I appreciate the translator's introduction, although I felt this collection could have also included the direct translations from Mandarin by Changtai Bi. Since I can't read Mandarin, seeing the changes Tracey Smith made to each transliterated poem would have been very interesting. However, this may be my bias as a student of classics and perhaps the editors did not consider the exploration of the translation itself to be as interesting as the poems.
qingyigeshu's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
4.5
A beautiful collection from an otherwise unknown writer here in America.