黄礼孩：独自举办国际诗歌奖的中国诗人

黄礼孩：独自举办国际诗歌奖的中国诗人

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，在周围的商业热潮里，黄礼孩在广州创办了《诗歌与人》诗刊。2005年，《诗歌与人》杂志设立“诗歌与人·国际诗歌奖”。这些年来，安德拉德、彭燕郊、托马斯·特朗斯特罗姆、亚当·扎加耶夫斯基、丽塔·达夫、西川等十多位中外诗人获得了此殊荣。其中，第六届获奖者托马斯·特朗斯特罗姆在获奖半年后被授予2011年诺贝尔文学奖，另一位诺贝尔文学奖得主沃尔科特也在去年领取了“诗歌与人”的终身成就奖。

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.

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多年后，黄礼孩站在为颁奖礼而涌来的各地诗人面前，想起了他决定创办《诗歌与人》诗刊的下午。当时，广州正步入经济高速发展的阶段，一座座高楼拔地而起。沿着南下的铁路，心怀财富梦的人如候鸟迁徙般来到广州。没有人能想到《诗歌与人》在日后存活多年，且慢慢在国际诗歌界获得关注。

2005年，黄礼孩独自设立了“诗歌与人·国际诗歌奖”。 他的初衷是让更多的人关注到当下世界上优秀诗人的诗歌。“这个奖面向整个世界，我希望获奖的都是世界上顶尖的诗人。通过每一年的评奖，让大家看到更多国外优秀作品，也让外国诗人了解到中国的文化现状和诗歌生态” 。

在中国，如里尔克、泰戈尔、艾略特、聂鲁达等，因被写入文学史被国内所熟知，但当下外国诗坛那些重要的诗人和作品，因为翻译和引入比较滞后，所以，在国内知名度不高。“诗歌与人.国际诗歌奖”恰好地提供了一个平台。黄礼孩通过请国外的翻译家、学者、诗人推介，并多次到国外去拜访，接触到这些世界上最优秀的诗人。获奖的外国诗人也对该奖的纯粹性和艺术性很认可，更对拥有诗歌传统的古老中国充满好奇，所以都愿意前往。

“国外诗人读到的中国诗歌往往是古典诗歌，能广泛流传的都是经典、巅峰之作。像葡萄牙诗人安德拉德这样的大诗人，他直接把李白作为东方意象写进诗歌中。 李白、杜甫、杜牧、李商隐、温庭筠等人的诗歌在国外广受欢迎。意象派诗人埃兹拉·庞德对李白作品的翻译，让人看到的不仅仅是这位诗仙的浪漫主义，也看到中国传统文化里推崇的“人与自然”的和谐，看到东方的神秘主义。”

近代白话文运动之后，外国诗歌对中国的影响力则更直接更强大。“一方面由于白话诗的语言形式、诗体来自于西方，另一方面，现代社会经济、城市化的发展，让人们的生活方式与古典中国的审美完全不同。中国现代诗的创作更多是从现实主义入手，如果当下自然生活已经不是过去的自然生活，这种转向也是必然的。”

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诗歌，在当下显得平静。但，黄礼孩认为，“诗歌的力量依旧在”。 “诗歌与人·国际诗歌奖”引发了年轻人的喜欢，国内很多重要的诗歌研究者也看重这份名单。中国当代文学著名研究学者洪子诚教授曾给黄礼孩发来这样的短信说：“很多诗歌，我是在你们的推荐下开始阅读的。”

黄礼孩如今还在写诗，也继续影响着身边的年轻诗人。中国的90后诗人不在少数，他们逐渐与70后、80后诗人一起成为中国诗歌的新生写作力量。与他们的前辈相比，90后诗人的整体表达更多趋向个人化，写作内容集中在个人成长经历和情感经历。“这些年轻的诗人经过长时间的写作，渐渐建立起了自己的风格。跟‘第三代诗人’相比，他们不聚焦于国家、历史、时代这一类的宏大叙述，更偏向于个人内心，关注小情感、小世界，这是他们的普遍特点。”

黄礼孩的身边，与他同一年代出生的70后诗人也还在写诗，他们在身体力行地将自己对诗歌的想象与审美付诸文字，并发起更大的推动力量。现在，黄礼孩正在与美国诗人、翻译家徐贞敏把美国“70后诗人”介绍到中国来，向世界展现一个有趣而丰满的“70后诗人”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.

“无论在中国还是西方，职业诗人都非常少”

N：中西方人对诗歌的态度有什么不同吗？

H：无论是在中国还是西方，以写诗为职业的诗人都非常少。西方有较多的诗人选择在大学里教诗歌写作，很多大学亦开授了这方面课程。另外，西方也有付费邀请诗人朗诵诗歌的传统，这让诗人能够稍微缓解生存的压力，可以将更多的精力放在写作上。在瑞典，每天国家电台都会朗诵诗人的诗歌，拓展着人们的想象空间。国外的诗歌读者拥有持久的阅读习惯，而中国大多数普通读者似乎才刚刚苏醒，意识到读诗原来如此感性和性感。我想，当更多的人通过纸质阅读、微信读诗或者新年诗会等形式走近了诗歌，我们整个社会的审美会到新的层面。

N：获奖西方诗人的中国之行对中国诗人有什么影响？

H：“诗歌与人·国际诗歌奖”的获奖诗人都是世界上最好的诗人，像葡萄牙诗人埃乌热尼·德·安德拉德、瑞典诗人托马斯·特朗斯特罗姆、波兰诗人亚当·扎加耶夫斯基等。托马斯·特朗斯特罗姆2011年在获得第6届奖杯半年后，被授予诺贝尔文学奖。这些诗人到中国来参加颁奖仪式，得到了中国诗人超乎想象的关注。其中有些诗人年岁已大，大部分人也许终生就来中国这么一次，所以许多中国诗人抱着一种朝圣的心态前来。但是，因为语言的障碍，大多数中国诗人都需要通过翻译交流。平时研究西方诗歌、翻译诗歌的学者、翻译家们反而有较长时间与来参加颁奖仪式的西方诗人沟通，通过他们认识当下西方诗歌的现状。中国的诗人们，更多地是通过近距离接触他们，观察他们在交谈、言行举止、待人接物的特点，将这些与他们的作品世界结合起来，相互印证。

N：有哪位西方诗人的近距离接触让你有所感悟？

H：每个人都很有特色，他们在生活上的小细节会让你突然醒悟：为什么他的诗歌是这样的。比如亚当·扎加耶夫斯基，我们叫他老扎。他很为别人着想，在颁奖典礼上，他呼吁更多人来参与并建立一个基金会，使它会为独立和持久。第二年，我去了一趟波兰，见到老扎，他马上问起我关于基金会筹备进展。这个和蔼可亲的老诗人，在某个瞬间觉得他像我的远方亲人了。丽塔·达夫则更为热情、气场强大。我曾经陪丽塔·达夫去老家徐闻。在游玩时，有朋友不断告诉丽塔·达夫哪里好看，一开始她很客气，后来她严肃说，她知道如何去观赏，用不着去告诉那么多，谢谢了。这个小细节让我回味许久。这个小细节让我回味许久。这是一位诗人的坚持，她要用自己的眼光去发现这个世界。

HUANG LIHAI: THE GLORY FOR A LONE WALKER

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