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Joseph Brodsky’s Borrowed Chinese Voice

Joseph Brodsky’s Borrowed Chinese Voice Joseph Brodsky’s poem “Letters from the Ming Dynasty” (1977) stands out among his work for its prominent Chinese theme. This essay considers the poem against the background of some distant European precedents in order to situate it in the history of world literature. It explains what the poem does, how it does it, and how it connects with the main themes of Brodsky’s poetry. To further contextualize “Letters from the Ming Dynasty” in twentieth-century literary history, the essay compares it with uses of China by European modernists before concluding by briefly looking at examples of the mirror phenomenon, Chinese writers who “borrowed the voice” of Westerners. The relevance of Brodsky’s example to present-day debates on “cultural appropriation” becomes apparent. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Modern Language Quarterly Duke University Press

Joseph Brodsky’s Borrowed Chinese Voice

Modern Language Quarterly , Volume 83 (2) – Jun 1, 2022

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References (24)

Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by University of Washington
ISSN
0026-7929
eISSN
1527-1943
DOI
10.1215/00267929-9644669
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Joseph Brodsky’s poem “Letters from the Ming Dynasty” (1977) stands out among his work for its prominent Chinese theme. This essay considers the poem against the background of some distant European precedents in order to situate it in the history of world literature. It explains what the poem does, how it does it, and how it connects with the main themes of Brodsky’s poetry. To further contextualize “Letters from the Ming Dynasty” in twentieth-century literary history, the essay compares it with uses of China by European modernists before concluding by briefly looking at examples of the mirror phenomenon, Chinese writers who “borrowed the voice” of Westerners. The relevance of Brodsky’s example to present-day debates on “cultural appropriation” becomes apparent.

Journal

Modern Language QuarterlyDuke University Press

Published: Jun 1, 2022

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