DU FU

Entre los líricos de la dinastía Tang, Du Fu es un gigante. Prolífico -han llegado hasta nosotros más de mil cuatrocientos de sus poemas, aunque otros muchos se han perdido-, destaca no por el número, sino por la calidad de sus versos, versos que, a lo largo de los siglos, han recitado millones de chinos de varia condicion, han creado escuela e inspirado a toda una pleyade de liricos desde sus inmediatos sucesores hasta el mismo Mao Zedong.''(de la Presentacion de Clara Janes y Juan Ignacio Preciado Idoeta)

Du Fu (712770) is one of the undisputed geniuses of Chinese poetrystill universally admired and read thirteen centuries after his death. Now David Young, author of Black Lab, and well known as a translator of Chinese poets, gives us a sparkling new translation of Du Fus verse, arranged to give us a tour of the life, each chapter of poems preceded by an introductory paragraph that situates us in place, time, and circumstance. What emerges is a portrait of a modest yet great artist, an ordinary man moving and adjusting as he must in troubled times, while creating a startling, timeless body of work.Du Fu wrote poems that engaged his contemporaries and widened the path of the lyric poet. As his societyone of the worlds great civilizationsslipped from a golden age into chaos, he wrote of the uncertain course of empire, the misfortunes and pleasures of his own family, the hard lives of ordinary people, the changing seasons, and the lives of creatures who shared his environment. As the poet chases chickens around the yard, observes tear streaks on his wifes cheek, or receives a gift of some shallots from a neighbor, Youngs rendering brings Du Fus voice naturally and elegantly to life.I sing what comes to mein ways both old and modernmy only audience right nownearby bushes and treeselegant houses standin an elegant row, too manyif my heart turns to ashesthen thats all right with me . . .from Meandering River