黃禮孩：獨自舉辦國際詩歌獎的中國詩人

In 1999, Huang Lihai established a poetry magazine ‘Poetry and People, in Guangzhou against the tide of literature in the commercial environment. In 2005, He set up an international competition called “Poetry and People. International PoetryPrize”. During the past years, poets from China and foreign countries, including Peng Yanjiao, Zhang Shuguang, Tomas Transtromer, Tomaz Salamun have won the prize. Among them, the sixth winner Tomas Transtromer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature of 2011 after half a year.

1999年，在周圍的商業(yè)熱潮里，黃禮孩在廣州創(chuàng)辦了《詩歌與人》詩刊。2005年，《詩歌與人》雜志設立“詩歌與人·國際詩歌獎”。這些年來，安德拉德、彭燕郊、托馬斯·特朗斯特羅姆、亞當·扎加耶夫斯基、麗塔·達夫、西川等十多位中外詩人獲得了此殊榮。其中，第六屆獲獎者托馬斯·特朗斯特羅姆在獲獎半年后被授予2011年諾貝爾文學獎，另一位諾貝爾文學獎得主沃爾科特也在去年領取了“詩歌與人”的終身成就獎。

1Several years later, Huang Lihai stood in front

of the poets from all over the country, recalling the afternoon that he decided to establish the magazine Poetry and People. The speed of the economic development of Guangzhou was just about to accelerate at that moment, and so many tall buildings had been set up. Along the railways there were many immigrants who wanted to realise their own dreams in Guangzhou. Nobody would think that this magazine could survive for such a long time and even win its international reputation among poets from all over the world.

The original intention of setting up a international prize was to make more people pay attention to great poems in the world. “This prize is open to the whole world, and I hope the winners are the most excellent poets on the planet. By rewarding these poets annually, the work by these great poets can be recognised and appreciated by others. On the other hand, this can let more foreign poets know more about the Chinese Poetry and the current situation now.”

Many foreign poets are widely known for their being written into the history of literature, such as Rainer Maria Rilke, Rabindranath Tagore,T.S. Eliot, Pablo Neruda and so on. But a lot of important poets and their works of our era are not yet well known in China, because the translation and study in China falls a little behind. Huang Lihai gets in touch with these great poets by asking many foreign translators, scholars and poets for contacts and by visiting them in person.

“Foreign poets mostly love classical poetry of ancient China. They like the poems by Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Su Shi very much. Truly enough, these poetries are the best among Chinese classical poetry.” Thanks to the translation by Imagist poet Ezra Pound, the poems by Li Bai have been well spread in western countries. When Huang invited those foreign winners to attend the award ceremony in China, they were extremely excited about the voice from the country that owns an amazing history of poetry, answering and giving their promises very gladly. Many people also found out something new about contemporary poems from the winners' list. One of the most important scholars of contemporary literature and at the same time professor of Peking University Hong Zicheng once sent a text message to Huang Lihai after the ceremony, on which said, “Thank you for making me know so many great poems and poets of the world, which has hugely broadened my horizons.”

2The Poetry scene often appears today. However,

Huang Lihai believes that the power of poetry is still alive. Now he still writes, and many young poems are growing up around him. There are a lot of poets born in the 1990s in China, and they will be the new power of Chinese poetry with the poets born during the 1970s and 1980s.

Compared to their seniors, poets born during the 1990s tend to be more individualised. The contents of their poems are usually inspired by their personal experiences and their emotional pasts. “These young poets have formed their own styles through the long time of writing. They are not like those 'Third generation poets', who were focused on grand narration about nation, history or time. They prefer personal emotion. This is their distinguishing character. ”

Together with Huang Lihai, many poets born in the 1970s are still writing. They want to realise their dreams on poems and express the own opinions about poems through the words. Now, Huang Lihai wants to introduce American poets born in 1970s to China with American poet and translator Xu Zhenmin, showing an interesting but meaty group portrait of the poets from 1970s to the whole world.

1

多年后，黃禮孩站在為頒獎禮而涌來的各地詩人面前，想起了他決定創(chuàng)辦《詩歌與人》詩刊的下午。當時，廣州正步入經(jīng)濟高速發(fā)展的階段，一座座高樓拔地而起。沿著南下的鐵路，心懷財富夢的人如候鳥遷徙般來到廣州。沒有人能想到《詩歌與人》在日后存活多年，且慢慢在國際詩歌界獲得關注。

2005年，黃禮孩獨自設立了“詩歌與人·國際詩歌獎”。 他的初衷是讓更多的人關注到當下世界上優(yōu)秀詩人的詩歌?！斑@個獎面向整個世界，我希望獲獎的都是世界上頂尖的詩人。通過每一年的評獎，讓大家看到更多國外優(yōu)秀作品，也讓外國詩人了解到中國的文化現(xiàn)狀和詩歌生態(tài)” 。

在中國，如里爾克、泰戈爾、艾略特、聶魯達等，因被寫入文學史被國內(nèi)所熟知，但當下外國詩壇那些重要的詩人和作品，因為翻譯和引入比較滯后，所以，在國內(nèi)知名度不高?！霸姼枧c人.國際詩歌獎”恰好地提供了一個平臺。黃禮孩通過請國外的翻譯家、學者、詩人推介，并多次到國外去拜訪，接觸到這些世界上最優(yōu)秀的詩人。獲獎的外國詩人也對該獎的純粹性和藝術性很認可，更對擁有詩歌傳統(tǒng)的古老中國充滿好奇，所以都愿意前往。

“國外詩人讀到的中國詩歌往往是古典詩歌，能廣泛流傳的都是經(jīng)典、巔峰之作。像葡萄牙詩人安德拉德這樣的大詩人，他直接把李白作為東方意象寫進詩歌中。 李白、杜甫、杜牧、李商隱、溫庭筠等人的詩歌在國外廣受歡迎。意象派詩人埃茲拉·龐德對李白作品的翻譯，讓人看到的不僅僅是這位詩仙的浪漫主義，也看到中國傳統(tǒng)文化里推崇的“人與自然”的和諧，看到東方的神秘主義?！?/p>

近代白話文運動之后，外國詩歌對中國的影響力則更直接更強大。“一方面由于白話詩的語言形式、詩體來自于西方，另一方面，現(xiàn)代社會經(jīng)濟、城市化的發(fā)展，讓人們的生活方式與古典中國的審美完全不同。中國現(xiàn)代詩的創(chuàng)作更多是從現(xiàn)實主義入手，如果當下自然生活已經(jīng)不是過去的自然生活，這種轉向也是必然的。”

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詩歌，在當下顯得平靜。但，黃禮孩認為，“詩歌的力量依舊在”。 “詩歌與人·國際詩歌獎”引發(fā)了年輕人的喜歡，國內(nèi)很多重要的詩歌研究者也看重這份名單。中國當代文學著名研究學者洪子誠教授曾給黃禮孩發(fā)來這樣的短信說：“很多詩歌，我是在你們的推薦下開始閱讀的?！?/p>

黃禮孩如今還在寫詩，也繼續(xù)影響著身邊的年輕詩人。中國的90后詩人不在少數(shù)，他們逐漸與70后、80后詩人一起成為中國詩歌的新生寫作力量。與他們的前輩相比，90后詩人的整體表達更多趨向個人化，寫作內(nèi)容集中在個人成長經(jīng)歷和情感經(jīng)歷?！斑@些年輕的詩人經(jīng)過長時間的寫作，漸漸建立起了自己的風格。跟‘第三代詩人’相比，他們不聚焦于國家、歷史、時代這一類的宏大敘述，更偏向于個人內(nèi)心，關注小情感、小世界，這是他們的普遍特點?！?/p>

黃禮孩的身邊，與他同一年代出生的70后詩人也還在寫詩，他們在身體力行地將自己對詩歌的想象與審美付諸文字，并發(fā)起更大的推動力量?，F(xiàn)在，黃禮孩正在與美國詩人、翻譯家徐貞敏把美國“70后詩人”介紹到中國來，向世界展現(xiàn)一個有趣而豐滿的“70后詩人”群像。

“POET IS NOT A HOT JOB IN NEITHER CHINA NOR THE WEST.”

N=NIHAO H=HUANG LIHAI

N: What is the difference between Chinese and Western attitudes towards poetry?

H: In both China and the West, writing poetry for a living is the lifestyle that few would choose. Many poets in the West choose to teach in universities, or in the publishing industry engaged in publishing and editing work. Most poets write poetry as their spiritual career. Better than in China, Western universities have specialised poetry writing courses so that poets would be very glad to teach such courses. In addition they have a tradition to pay poets to recite poetry, which allows the poet to ease the pressure of survival so they can put more energy into their writing. I was in Sweden once, and was preparing for lunch when I suddenly heard on the national radio that they were reciting poetry. When my friends told me that the Swedish National Radio have a daily program to recite poetry, I was very impressed. It is a rare thing for Sweden to use such power as their national radio to guarantee their citizens' access to poetic life in a busy society.

N: What do you think influenced the Chinese poets most from the award-winning Western poet's trip to China?

H: Award winning poets of the "Poetry and People · International Poetry Award" are the world's best poets, such as the Portuguese poet Eugerne de Andrade, the Swedish poet Thomas Transtromer, Polish poet Adam Zagayevski and so on. Thomas Tronstrom won the award in 2011. Six months later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. These poets came to China to attend the award ceremony, and the Chinese poet has paid much attention beyond our belief. These poets are getting old, and most would probably only come to China once in their lifetime. So many Chinese poets hold a pilgrimage mentality to come and see them. However, because of language barriers, most Chinese poets need to communicate through translation. Scholars who study Western poetry or translate poetry had a better opportunity to communicate with those Western poets and gain a better understanding of the most current development of poetry in the West. Chinese poets mostly observe those poets through their close contact with them, to have a better understanding of these people and their poets.

N: The close contact of which western poet has somehow inspired you?

H: Everyone has his or her own characters. The details in their life sometimes disillusion me in a sudden: why are their poems like that? Adam Zagajewski, also called Za by me, for example, is a very considerate person. In the award ceremony, he appealed to more people to come and establish a foundation that would be independent and sustained. In the second year, when I went to Poland and visited Za, he asked me about the preparation for the foundation. He, a kind and nice old poet, was like a family far away to me at that right moment. Rita Dove is very out-going and has a strong aura. I once went to my hometown Xuwen with her. During the trip, some friends told her where to see and where to visit. She was at first very polite, but later, she replied seriously that she knew how to enjoy the trip, and thanks but it was no need to tell her about that. I recalled this little thing for a long time. It is a kind of persistence of a poem that she wants to explore the world with her own eyes.

“無論在中國還是西方，職業(yè)詩人都非常少”

N：中西方人對詩歌的態(tài)度有什么不同嗎？

H：無論是在中國還是西方，以寫詩為職業(yè)的詩人都非常少。西方有較多的詩人選擇在大學里教詩歌寫作，很多大學亦開授了這方面課程。另外，西方也有付費邀請詩人朗誦詩歌的傳統(tǒng)，這讓詩人能夠稍微緩解生存的壓力，可以將更多的精力放在寫作上。在瑞典，每天國家電臺都會朗誦詩人的詩歌，拓展著人們的想象空間。國外的詩歌讀者擁有持久的閱讀習慣，而中國大多數(shù)普通讀者似乎才剛剛蘇醒，意識到讀詩原來如此感性和性感。我想，當更多的人通過紙質(zhì)閱讀、微信讀詩或者新年詩會等形式走近了詩歌，我們整個社會的審美會到新的層面。

N：獲獎西方詩人的中國之行對中國詩人有什么影響？

H：“詩歌與人·國際詩歌獎”的獲獎詩人都是世界上最好的詩人，像葡萄牙詩人埃烏熱尼·德·安德拉德、瑞典詩人托馬斯·特朗斯特羅姆、波蘭詩人亞當·扎加耶夫斯基等。托馬斯·特朗斯特羅姆2011年在獲得第6屆獎杯半年后，被授予諾貝爾文學獎。這些詩人到中國來參加頒獎儀式，得到了中國詩人超乎想象的關注。其中有些詩人年歲已大，大部分人也許終生就來中國這么一次，所以許多中國詩人抱著一種朝圣的心態(tài)前來。但是，因為語言的障礙，大多數(shù)中國詩人都需要通過翻譯交流。平時研究西方詩歌、翻譯詩歌的學者、翻譯家們反而有較長時間與來參加頒獎儀式的西方詩人溝通，通過他們認識當下西方詩歌的現(xiàn)狀。中國的詩人們，更多地是通過近距離接觸他們，觀察他們在交談、言行舉止、待人接物的特點，將這些與他們的作品世界結合起來，相互印證。

N：有哪位西方詩人的近距離接觸讓你有所感悟？

H：每個人都很有特色，他們在生活上的小細節(jié)會讓你突然醒悟：為什么他的詩歌是這樣的。比如亞當·扎加耶夫斯基，我們叫他老扎。他很為別人著想，在頒獎典禮上，他呼吁更多人來參與并建立一個基金會，使它會為獨立和持久。第二年，我去了一趟波蘭，見到老扎，他馬上問起我關于基金會籌備進展。這個和藹可親的老詩人，在某個瞬間覺得他像我的遠方親人了。麗塔·達夫則更為熱情、氣場強大。我曾經(jīng)陪麗塔·達夫去老家徐聞。在游玩時，有朋友不斷告訴麗塔·達夫哪里好看，一開始她很客氣，后來她嚴肅說，她知道如何去觀賞，用不著去告訴那么多，謝謝了。這個小細節(jié)讓我回味許久。這個小細節(jié)讓我回味許久。這是一位詩人的堅持，她要用自己的眼光去發(fā)現(xiàn)這個世界。

HUANG LIHAI: THE GLORY FOR A LONE WALKER

Text by Chen Yuqiang Translations by Bian Jiajin&Tao Wenjia Photos by Zengjian