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

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In this age of information, poetry is perhaps the most efficient method of expressing grand concepts. Language for a New Century, a collection of contemporary poetry from the Middle East, Asia (including parts of North and East Africa) and its Diaspora, contains one poetic masterpiece after another. Complete with humor, love, anger, despair, confusion, contempt, sadness and joy, the poems open a window into the experience of the world's most populous continent. Lovingly compiled by its editors, who are towering artists in their own right, this collection of 400 voices from the "East" is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration with thousands of people in the 55 countries from which the works are drawn.

The poems were carefully translated from their 40 original languages into English--many for the first time--by expert regional artists who have succeeded in expressing concepts and ideas often difficult to convey. The poems contained in this massive volume represent some of the best in their modern craft, and stand in stark contrast to the disposable monotony we slog through in our daily search for truth. Evocative and provocative, familiar and shocking, the poets pose questions more often than they make pronouncements. Eliciting thought and reflection, they challenge the consumer of "information" to instead become an information producer.

Arranged around nine themes related to the human experience, the structure of the book itself combats Orientalism with humanity. It defies borders, many artificial, many imposed, reconnecting regions in a continent where, prior to Western imperialism, war and the modern nation state, identities, ideas and people interacted more fluidly. Events that have transpired in these regions over the past six years have only made the poems' messages more urgent--and their publication that much more of a triumph. Indeed, Language for a New Century, and the regional networks developed through the work of its tireless collaborators, is likely to bring on a new age of enlightenment; if not for the world, then at least for the reader.

Published in the September/October 2008 Issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

The presentation gives a fairly complete rendition
of poetry from the Middle East and Asia. Renditions
from Azerbaijan, Turkey, India, Iran, Japan,
Palestine and Iceland are provided for the readers'
enjoyment. Tidbits of typical poems are provided
together with the applicable authors. i.e.

Jennifer Dobbys-Elesy wrote "Pure Music" which contains
the following passage:

" Child among night flowers , opening their dark eyes
to the moon , "

Hamid Ismailov wrote "The Shaping Clay" containing the
following passage:

"Crack open your door, silence to the murmurs of a
cottage under the cradle of the sleeping clay."

Kyimay Kaung wrote "Eskimo Paradise" containing the
following passage:

" Eskimo paradise is warm paradise of Bedouins cold-
my paradise. "

'World literature' -- what is that? It seems to mean, literature produced around the world. Apparently, universities have decided that this is somehow an original concept. Still, if anthologies such as this introduce poetry lovers to the broader spectrum of verse (albeit in the lingua franca of English), then the editors have done their job. It is only to our betterment that a thousand flowers bloom -- and indeed so much is what is gathered here.

But an anthology based on such a massive premise is bound to exceed its grasp. Culling top poetry from the four corners is a worthy challenge -- but the price of expanse is depth. What procedures were in place to decide who represents a 'Central American' author? Why were they selected, and others left out? Specialists of the region may certainly quibble about choices -- but the editors give us no clues as to what determined their choices.

Some of the choices, in fact, are bizarre. An American expat who lives in Japan is filed under 'Japanese' poetry. Huh? And many selections are guided by certain . . . well, I won't call them prejudices . . . but it's pretty apparent that poetry selections were based on which authors are receiving the most airplay right now. Ko Un, for example. Darwish. Tamada Chimako. No doubt, all three are excellent poets -- and the translations are decent. And these poets are very popular in their home language -- but they do provide certain thematic realities (sex, Buddhism, colonialism) that fit nicely into certain expectations of North American audiences.

See, the problem with these anthologies is that they become museums of stones: nice poems, translated, put on pedestals, with the headlamp glowing above. But no context is provided: no cultural explanations, or historical explorations -- no annotations or explanations which would deepen our appreciation of the sociohistorical conditions these poems are working in.

Instead, we get 20 pages -- TWENTY! -- or biographies for the translators! Absurd. Do I really care what minor poetry prize one translator garnered, or how some other translator got a big grant to live in Amsterdam for a year? Please, set your egos aside. Twenty pages of annotations, helping the reader to see these poems as more than exercises in translation, would have been most welcome. The headshots for the editors (three pages of biography just for the editors!) was a bit absurd. Clearly, this is more about the translator, than it is the translatee. It's sad, but it's all about the labels and reputations.

Why, for example, do original language versions accompany Tada Chimako's verse, but not other Japanese poets. Is it because they're 'haiku' we need the original? Why not provide some original content for all poets? I wouldn't have minded sacrificing some of the trendier choices if it meant more depthful encounters with poets like Tada.

I truly think the new trend has to be not just translation, but explication -- as chancey as that is. But I'd like more information on Ko Un's political protests and anti-dictatorship work than details about how many magazines his translator (who no one really cares about) has appeared in. Don't strip off the context: render it into the target tongue, but please keep some of the habitat intact.

Still, and for those not experiencing kneejerk anger at this point, I repeat: if this anthology gets an undergrad to read some Malaysian verse, well -- congrats to the editors.


"Lucky are you who find me in the wilderness;
I am the only unquiet ghost who does not seek rest . . . .
I'll remember your song but I'll forget your name."

This is a gorgeous collection of poems that are too often left out of the major, western-dominated anthologies. It is organized in such a way that poems of different origins and styles compliment each other in unique and profound ways. The editors have done a magnificent job.

A beautiful collection of poetry from around the world gives one a sense of other cultures, other minds, other lives.

LANGUAGE FOR A NEW CENTURY: CONTEMPORARY POETRY FROM THE MIDDLE EAST, ASIA AND BEYOND provides an unprecedented collection of poetry from the East, blending and presenting works by Middle Eastern and Asian writers. Some 400 poets are featured here, selecting poets whose works represent a wider artistic movement in the East. It's a literary anthology no college-level collection should be without.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch