Walking on a Forked Road

Walking on a Forked Road

Regarding the long poem "Walking on a Forked Path," I particularly emphasize that it breaks with all my previous poetic frameworks and poses new challenges. The constant questioning of an uncertain world constitutes the tension within the core of exile and language, encompassing both resistance and commitment to the essence of life. — Bei Dao Bei Dao is one of the most celebrated contemporary Chinese-language poets and the most sought-after Chinese writer for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works have been translated into numerous languages, including English, French, German, and Japanese. "Walking on a Forked Path" is an autobiographical long poem that Bei Dao began writing in 2009 at the age of sixty. It was not completed until 2020, a period of eleven years. Before this, Bei Dao wrote almost exclusively short poems. The title of the poem carries the profound implication of Bei Dao's statement, "As a poet, I am always lost."
He completed the prelude and the first nine chapters in 2012, but suffered a stroke in the spring of that year, leaving him with only 30% of his language proficiency. He was unable to write for the next three years, and only after a long period of rehabilitation did he gradually recover and gradually complete the unfinished chapters.
Comprising thirty-four chapters, "Walking on a Forked Path" presents a straightforward narrative that penetrates deeply into the spiritual core while simultaneously conveying the pulse of the times. Its blend of gentleness, grandeur, and majestic power is a summation and a pinnacle of Bei Dao's creative career, a history of contemporary literary, artistic, and social development, and arguably the most important poem in contemporary China.

2023-02-02

聯經出版公司

144

9789570866964