A magical, impressionistic autobiography by Chinaâ€™s legendary poet Bei Dao In 2001, to visit his sick father, the exiled poet Bei Dao returned to his

City Gate, Open Up

A magical, impressionistic autobiography by Chinaâ€™s legendary poet Bei Dao
In 2001, to visit his sick father, the exiled poet Bei Dao returned to his homeland for the first time in over twenty years. The city of his birth was totally unrecognizable. â€œMy city that once was had vanished,â€ he writes: â€œI was a foreigner in my hometown.â€ The shock of this experience released a flood of memories and emotions that sparked Open Up, City Gate. In this lyrical autobiography of growing upâ€•from the birth of the Peopleâ€™s Republic, through the chaotic years of the Great Leap Forward, and on into the Cultural Revolutionâ€•Bei Dao uses his extraordinary gifts as a poet and storyteller to create another Beijing, a beautiful memory palace of endless alleyways and corridors, where personal narrative mixes with the momentous history he lived through. At the center of the book are his parents and siblings, and their everyday life together through famine and festival. Open Up, City Gate is told in an episodic, fluid style that moves back and forth through the poetâ€™s childhood, recreating the smells and sounds, the laughter and the danger, of a boyâ€™s coming of age during a time of enormous change and upheaval.
Country USA
Brand New Directions
Manufacturer New Directions
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780811226431
ReleaseDate 2017-04-25
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780811226431

City Gate, Open Up