Event: Asian Studies Brown Bag Series

Often described as a beautifully misplaced poet, the pivotal role of Zheng Chouyu in the history of Chinese modern verse is undeniable. Zheng’s masterful use of language and poetic imagery lies somewhere between the modern and the romantic, the innovative and the traditional. His poetry is rife with multivocal intertexts, where manifold reflections on movement and the significance of places, as spaces of alienation and belonging, can coexist. This presentation takes as its starting point the centrality of mobility as an avenue for understanding how different layers of meaning unfold in a selection of poems by the Taiwanese writer. Drawing on the work of Tim Cresswell, this presentation explores the representation of different forms of mobility in Zheng’s poetry. It is argued that such forms enable lyrical considerations to be made on displacement, and rootlessness. Moreover, they allow for the formation of a dwelling space, where the authorial poetic voice can finally put down roots.