Not an Illusion cover

Not an Illusion

Rating 3.0
Word count
49K words
Chapters
120
ISBN
9787559852830

Tags

Summary

This collection gathers the long poems, poem sequences, and shorter pieces the author has written and published over more than a decade, including "Not Illusion," "Your Being Far Away Guides Me," "Cape of Storms," and "The Singing Spirit." The poems weave in the poet's complex experience of life and are filled with her serious reflection on the world, on people, and on nature, as well as with rich feeling and love. One senses that the author is always attending to those subtle and vast dimensions that are easily overlooked and hard to reach. Things that flash by also possess great vitality, like hidden clocks and needles; in every detail, each drop is real and intimate, with its own will and distinctive radiance. They illuminate, inspire, and open up the poet's resources of life, nourish the spirit and blood-oxygen of her poems, and demand that the poet do all she can to pursue a deeper, more distant, and intimately connected extension.

Editor's review

Not Illusion is a distinctive collection of poems and paintings by the poet Yi Lu, whose core value lies in a bold and profound dialogue between the abstract imagery of poetry and the concrete art of painting. The book selects nearly a hundred poems Yi Lu has written since 2000 and, unusually, includes dozens of paintings by the poet herself, creating an intertextual landscape of "poetry and painting as one source." This is not simply illustration accompanying verse but a symbiosis and mutual interpretation of two art forms within the spiritual world of a single creator. Yi Lu's poetic language is condensed and her imagery strikingly original, often entering through the minutiae of daily life to uncover the absurdity and poetry of existence itself; her paintings, with their rich colors and rough lines, are full of raw vitality and expressionist color, providing a visual anchor for what in the poetry defies words. The careful editing of this Guangxi Normal University Press edition allows the tension between text and image to emerge fully. The most profound experience of reading this book lies in following the poet/painter's dual identity, moving between the "real" and the "illusory" constructed by words and images, and rethinking the way we perceive the world. For readers weary of single, linear reading and eager for inspiration at the intersection of art forms, this book offers a rare immersive experience. It is not a book to skim; it asks readers to slow down, to linger and associate among lines and blocks of color, and to complete their own mosaic of meaning.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers of literature and art interested in cross-disciplinary fusion of modern poetry and painting
  • Readers who wish to experience reflections on life and existence from a distinctive female perspective
  • Thinkers who enjoy actively constructing meaning while reading and savor open texts
  • Artists, especially poets or painters seeking dialogue between different media of expression

Not a good fit for

  • Readers looking for a clear storyline or the pleasures of traditional narrative
  • Those with little patience for or basic interest in abstract art and experimental texts

Reading tips

  1. Read through the poetry first to build an initial sense of the imagery, then view the paintings alongside it to experience the echoes or contrasts between text and image.
  2. Try setting aside the expectation of "illustration" and treat poems and paintings as two parallel systems of expression, appreciating their independent artistic value and the new meanings generated by their juxtaposition.
  3. The book leaves much space and silence; it is suited to quiet, solitary reading, with pen at hand to record personal associations and impressions as they arise.

About the publisher

Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986

Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 第一辑 鸣啭之灵
  3. 被宠爱的孩子
  4. 仿佛爱
  5. 美好
  6. 贵客
  7. 如果别人没听见
  8. 为我为之
  9. 愿望
  10. 鸟儿要用多少种方式飞
  11. 头顶上空
  12. 生动和幸福
  13. 失眠的空洞
  14. 大笼子
  15. 洗澡
  16. 万类的幸福
  17. 良辰美景的戏台
  18. 愚人节
  19. 那只白鸟
  20. 鸣啭的曲线在变化
  21. 我的心不宁
  22. 黄灿灿的抽屉
  23. 一个早晨
  24. 理所当然
  25. 忽然孤单
  26. 喜鹊叫
  27. 依靠
  28. 大的原因
  29. 发言
  30. 陶然
  31. 鸟儿怎么以为
  32. 提醒
  33. 小窝儿
  34. 黄昏
  35. 搬移
  36. 小刀子
  37. 棱镜
  38. 鸟儿一飞走就像是永别
  39. 闷着的罐子
  40. 为何呢
  41. 舞台
  42. 江山
  43. 烟尘里
  44. 世物
  45. 我无法看到
  46. 钻石
  47. 黑暗是大妈妈
  48. 树冠
  49. 风没有形状
  50. 宝贝
  51. 看树
  52. 它俩
  53. 欢愉
  54. 黑鸟
  55. 一致
  56. 晨曲
  57. 维持
  58. 感激
  59. 幸福
  60. 月亮
  61. 河岸
  62. 隐秘
  63. 构成
  64. 不寻常的大鸟
  65. 一只鸟儿在笑
  66. 数叶子
  67. 第二辑 至亲的关系
  68. 正午
  69. 璞玉
  70. 瓷瓶
  71. 廊桥
  72. 半月里
  73. 祠堂
  74. 迷途的羊
  75. 台风将临
  76. 海难者的母亲
  77. 海堤
  78. 海滩上的一只狗
  79. 凝望一棵树
  80. 遭难
  81. 乌云
  82. 家园
  83. 孤独
  84. 独舞
  85. 不是滋味
  86. 世界的心隐隐地疼
  87. 患者
  88. 据说
  89. 平安地带
  90. 像睡着的世界
  91. 一块废墟
  92. 风干预不了
  93. 问题
  94. 因为有醒
  95. 音乐弥漫
  96. 有一种冷酷和冷静也坚定不移
  97. 那束白花
  98. 繁星呈现
  99. 硬道理
  100. 坡上的桃花
  101. 异常的方向
  102. 奇迹
  103. 两个海
  104. 最后
  105. 保护
  106. 雨越下越大
  107. 难道宁静要耗掉所有
  108. 荒野
  109. 黑夜旅途
  110. 刻在墓石上的名字
  111. 元旦日
  112. 在飞机里观日出
  113. 想起你的出生
  114. 永恒
  115. 至亲的关系
  116. 你的远在指导着我——致我的母亲
  117. 风暴角
  118. 第三辑 不是虚幻
  119. 不是虚幻(长诗)
  120. 后记

FAQ

Is this book a poetry collection or an art album?
It is a complete collection of poems and paintings, in which poetry and painting hold equal importance and together form the work's overall artistic expression; it should not be simply classified as one or the other.
What is the author Yi Lu's creative background?
Yi Lu is a major contemporary Chinese woman poet, author of several collections including Seeing and It Took Two Mornings, known for her keen intuition and distinctive imagery. This book presents for the first time a concentrated view of her exploration in painting, revealing another facet of her as an artist.
Does reading this book require a foundation in art appreciation?
Not necessarily. The book's appeal lies precisely in its direct and unadorned artistic power. Readers can enter through their own most immediate responses; the feel of the language and the impact of the images can themselves open a door to perception. Of course, some familiarity with modern art may aid deeper understanding.

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About the author

伊路 Author

Yi Lu is a poet about whom limited public information is available. To date, only one work by this author is known, Buzhi Xuhuan (Not Illusory), which is generally classified as modern poetry. The existence of this work and its categorization suggest that Yi Lu's writing belongs to the broad tradition of contemporary Chinese poetry, though the character of that poetry can only be grasped through this single entry. Because information such as dates of birth and death, nationality, educational background, and writing career is not clearly recorded, specific biographical details cannot be confirmed and should not be speculated upon. What can be confirmed is that Yi Lu's primary direction is modern poetry, and that only one work appears in the available materials, which considerably limits any judgment about the author's overall style and stages of writing. Understanding of Yi Lu therefore currently rests mainly on the textual clue provided by Not Illusory; a fuller picture of the poet and the trajectory of the writing awaits further public information and related research.

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