Reviews

Thank you to @invisibooks and @this_is_edelweiss for an eARC of The Lantern and the Night Moths, selected and translated by Yilin Wang. The book comes out April 2nd.

I enjoyed reading a book of poetry last month, so I decided to continue the trend. I’m glad I picked fascinating book. Qiu Jin, Zhang Qiaohui, Fei Ming, Xiao Xi, Dai Wangshu are the five modern and contemporary Chinese poets whose work is translated. This text is much more than a poetry book. The poems are included in Chinese and English, and then Yilin Wang offers commentary, not only on the poets but also on her own interpretations and experiences in the translating process.

I loved reading this because I reacted personally to the poems, then I read Yilin Wang’s commentary which helped me understand the cultural and historical context in a much more meaningful way. I felt like I learned as I read, and I could appreciate the poems on different levels. Also, Yilin Wang’s discussion of the act of translation and the different aspects a translator has to consider was completely fascinating.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in poetry or in literature in translation.

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