Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond

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Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal, Ravi Shankar
W.W. Norton, 2008 - Poetry - 734 pages
1 Review

A landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Eastern poetry available.

Language for a New Century celebrates the artistic and cultural forces flourishing today in the East, bringing together an unprecedented selection of works by South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian poets as well as poets living in the Diaspora. Some poets, such as Bei Dao and Mahmoud Darwish, are acclaimed worldwide, but many more will be new to the reader. The collection includes 400 unique voices--political and apolitical, monastic and erotic--that represent a wider artistic movement that challenges thousand-year-old traditions, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.

Each section of the anthology--organized by theme rather than by national affiliation--is preceded by a personal essay from the editors that introduces the poetry and exhorts readers to examine their own identities in light of these powerful poems. In an age of violence and terrorism, often predicated by cultural ignorance, this anthology is a bold declaration of shared humanity and devotion to the transformative power of art.

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User Review  - CNDeCurtis - LibraryThing

Simply put, this collection of poetry is one of the most important collections released recently and should be on everyone's shelf. From melancholy to joy, all of the breadth of human emotion is found ... Read full review

Contents

Foreword
xxvii
Acknowledgments
xlviii
Jennifer Kwon Dobbs Elegy for Pure Music
11
Copyright

77 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

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About the author (2008)

Tina Chang, author of Half-Lit Houses, teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

New York-based poet, playwright, and writer Nathalie Handal performs and teaches worldwide.

Ravi Shankar, founding editor of Drunken Boat and author of Instrumentality, lives in Connecticut.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Language for a New Century
TitleLanguage for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond
EditorsTina Chang, Nathalie Handal, Ravi Shankar
Editionillustrated
PublisherW.W. Norton, 2008
Original fromthe University of Michigan
DigitizedJul 8, 2008
ISBN0393332381, 9780393332384
Length734 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors)
Poetry / Asian / General
Poetry / Middle Eastern
  
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