Lannan Readings & Conversations

Bei Dao


Friday May 28 2004

Exile, Writing, and Cultural Freedom – Part 1
Exile, Writing, and Cultural Freedom – Part 2
Fernando Garavito – English Translation
Svetlana Alexievich – English Translation

PDF: Svetlana Alexievich – English Text Translation
PDF: Fernando Garavito – English Text Translation

Bei Dao, who was forced into exile following the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, is widely treasured by those who participated in China's democracy movement. Dao is a member of China's "misty school," a movement of fresh poetics that emerged in the 1970s using "free verse" in a hermetic, semi-private language characterized by oblique imagery and elliptical syntax. Dao's poetry depicts the intimacy of passion, love, and friendship in a society where trust can literally be a matter of life and death.

Bei Dao Bio and Cross Links