xiv conventions
In most cases the original form appears at first mention, and the reader
who wants to check at a later stage will have to consult the index. Some
of the original titles are provided only when the discussion arrives at
the text in question, and original terminology is repeated if the term
in question features centrally more than once, at far-between points in
the narrative. The titles of poems that are part of the discourse studied
in this book and feed directly into the analysis are accompanied by the
poem’s year of composition or, if I have been unable to ascertain this,
by its year of publication, followed by a question mark if the date is an
estimation.
The characters for Chinese personal names are found in the index,
which lists life years for all well-known avant-garde poets mentioned
in this study, with their recognition as such measured roughly by vis-
ibility in multiple-author anthologies, unofficial journals, individual
collections, literary histories and so on. This extends to precursors of
the avant-garde such as Huang Xiang and Guo Lusheng, but not to
authors such as Tang Xiaodu and Chen Chao, whose association with
the avant-garde is primarily in their capacity as critics, even if they
are published poets in their own right. Life years appear in the main
text for poets whose work is studied in depth. With a few exceptions
that are motivated by the narrative, I have not referred to “real” or
“original” names (ॳৡǃᴀৡ, e.g. Zhao Zhenkai for Bei Dao) that
the authors in question haven’t used in their capacity as published
poets, since there is nothing real or original about them in the pres-
ent context. In transcribing names, I have adhered to previous tran-
scription in Western-language publications where it exists, even if this
flouts the rules for Chinese (family) names (e.g. Xi Chuan rather than
Xichuan), and otherwise gone by those rules (e.g. Zhongdao rather than
Zhong Dao). For Beiling, Duoduo and Haizi, whose names have also
been transcribed as Bei Ling, Duo Duo and Hai Zi, I have opted for the
aggregated versions, basing myself on “real names” after all, for want
of better reasons: Beiling’s “real name” is Huang Beiling, Duoduo
named himself after his daughter Li Duoduo, and Haizi’s “real name”
was Zha Haisheng, which makes it unlikely that Hai in Haizi should be
read as a family name.
From the material that was available to me I have picked author
portraits that I feel convey the presence of the individuals as I have
experienced this over the years during public readings, interviews and
so on—rather than looking for pictures from particular times or occa-