436 chapter twelve
Han Dong’s Begeisterung: “Abandoning the Arena of Power”Be they poets, novelists, critics, scholars, journalists or politicians, Chi-
nese authors are astoundingly prolific and the speed at which they
produce books is both exciting and worrisome. He Xiaozhu’s Selected
Chinese Poems of 1999 (1999Ё䆫ᑈ䗝, #78) bears testimony to this
side of Chinese graphomania. The editorial committee of this anthol-
ogy set to work in June 1999 and must have finished in October or
so, for the book appeared in December of the year it claims to cover.
Then again, it is called a selection of poetry, and as such under no ob-
ligation of completeness or representativeness. The editor’s postscript
(#79) emphasizes this point, but with an eye to literary persuasion not
calendar chronology. He Xiaozhu frankly relates how in spite of ad-
monitions by several poets, he hasn’t undertaken to be objective or fair
and is partial to the Popular point of view. The order of poets included
was determined by drawing lots, with the exception of Xiao An and
Sheng Xing, whose pole positions are in explicit homage to the quality
of their work.
Amid the accumulation of metatext that is the present chapter, let’s
read another poem for a change, as a counterpart to Zhang Shuguang’s
«A Portrait of Years Gone By», cited in the first pages of this section.
As we have seen, Zhang’s «Portrait» opens an anthology shaped by a
particular literary preference. So does this poem by Xiao An (p19):
«Mental Patient»
what must you do to walk out of here
tilt your head
a bit more to the right
set your hands in the correct position
confused person
keen appearance in the glass
we’ve no way to tidy up your brain
to wash you cleaner
you may be the best-looking
and the most complete
but anywhere and everywhere
you’re always in such disorder
and whether you’re called xiao li or ping’er
all we can do is call you xiao li or ping’er