Between License and Responsibility: Reexamining the Role of the Poet in Twenty-First-Century Chinese Society

Inwood, Heather

doi:10.1080/21514399.2011.11833932

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Methodologically, the paper benefits from a mixture of sociology of literature, close reading of texts, and discourse analysis by putting authors and texts under scrutiny against the backdrop of the Chinese party-state's "master narrative" on the epidemic. As for terminology, pandemic poetry seems the best-fitting option, and is also favoured for its terminological resonance with the "quake poetry" that emerged after the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 (Inwood 2011a), another striking example of poetry's direct interaction with society. 1…”

Section: Covid-19 and Literature: Too Early To Tell?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 The basic guidelines for cultural policy in the People's Republic of China from its foundation in 1949 until Mao's death in 1976, modelled after the "Talks", again gave poetry a didactic function under bureaucratic control. The Reform and Opening Up (gaige kaifang 改革开放) policy inaugurated in 1978 and the liberalization of the publishing industry in the 1990s once again pushed the poets to the margins and generated new controversies about their social role (Inwood 2011b).…”

Section: The Poet and The Establishment: A Never-ending Storymentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Poets, What Can We Do?”

Picerni

2022

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The present paper investigates poetry written in China on the theme of the COVID-19 pandemic following the outbreak in January 2020, considered both as a social phenomenon and as literary texts. The analysis is primarily interested in considering the impact of the pandemic on poetry’s interaction with social reality. In order to do so, the essay follows two trajectories. Firstly, it explores the public role performed by poets in the nationwide popular mobilization that sustained the party-state’s effort to curb the epidemic, with a strong emphasis on poetry as a social practice, specifically in a time of crisis, as outlined by both the state and the authors themselves. Secondly, a close reading of selected texts shows the heterogeneity of standpoints adopted by poets in their individual understandings of their role during China’s anti-COVID mobilization effort, especially in relation with the “master narrative” advanced by the state. The paper demonstrates that the final configuration of China’s pandemic poetry was made possible by Chinese poetry’s longstanding tradition of social responsibility, and that the transgression of boundaries between the official and unofficial poetry scenes, and “amateur” and “professional” authors, was instrumental to promote poets’ public engagement.

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Section: Covid-19 and Literature: Too Early To Tell?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Poet and The Establishment: A Never-ending Storymentioning

confidence: 99%

“Poets, What Can We Do?”

Picerni

2022

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“…Thus, Zheng's life and her writing are a site of different projections by different players, an image that fits Heather Inwood's designation of Zheng as a 'poster girl' for battler poetry. 5 And somehow, Zheng manages to stay above the fray without conceding much in terms of credibility as a voice for the downtrodden.…”

Section: Hu Zhiminmentioning

confidence: 99%

No One in Control? China's Battler Poetry

Crevel¹

2021

Comparative Critical Studies

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No literary genre is fully predictable or controllable – but some are more unpredictable and uncontrollable than others, and China's battler poetry is a case in point. In China, up to three hundred million people have left the countryside to flee from poverty and make their way into city life. Exposed to the extreme dynamic of global capitalism, these ‘battlers’ are the foot soldiers of China's economic rise but not invariably its beneficiaries. Many live and work under gruelling conditions and are deprived of basic civil rights, as second-class citizens in socio-economic and cultural terms. And… they write poetry. Not all of them by any means, but enough for a phenomenon called ‘battler poetry’ to enter the public eye. What is battler poetry, and what does it do? What happens when dominant logics of ideology, literary aesthetics and cultural expectations encounter the circumstances of battler life? The force field around this poetry is dizzyingly complex and rife with opportunities for disconnect and the unexpected, throwing into sharp relief the randomness that is part and parcel of cultural production.

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Between License and Responsibility: Reexamining the Role of the Poet in Twenty-First-Century Chinese Society

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

“Poets, What Can We Do?”

“Poets, What Can We Do?”

No One in Control? China's Battler Poetry

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