Is it an Orientalist Hallucination, a Sinologist Interpretation or an Aesthetic Commonality? – A Reflection on American Representations of Chinese Poetry and Culture from Pound to Ginsberg

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses the connections and interactions between Chinese and American modern poetry. It claims that it is inappropriate to overinterpret the representation of Chinese language and culture in American poetry from popular orientalist or sinologist perspective, which easily neglects the more complicated historical and cultural possibilities in the aspects of poetics, translation and cultural exchange. By taking an overall view of the issue, it tries to reveal a more indivi­dualistic, dynamic yet collective cultural interaction between Chinese language, culture and modern American poetry, which is a process to achieve a cosmopolitan aesthetic commonality.