No trace of the gardener

the long version

Yang Mu, a pivotal figure in the development of modern Chinese literature, is one of the most widely read living poets of the world's largest literary audience: Chinese-speaking people. Providing a selection of poems from more than three decades of work, this book offers over one hundred translations that capture the poet's haunting lyricism. Drawing on avant-garde traditions of Europe and the United States as well as on the traditions of classical Chinese poetry and prose, his work explores intense sensuality, the anguish of war, exile, the colonial experience, and conflicting views of national and cultural identity.