The Art of Poetry

Name: The Art of Poetry
ISBN: 9787532766383

Jorge Luis Borges / 陈重仁Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaOct 2017

4.4

Word count: 58K words
Chapters: 10
ISBN: 9787532766383

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Summary

In the autumn of 1967, Borges delivered the Norton Lectures at Harvard, six talks on the place of poetry, metaphor, fiction and poetry, prosody and translation. The recordings lay forgotten in a library for more than thirty years before being edited and published by Calin-Andrei Mihailescu, then associate professor of modern languages and literature at the University of Western Ontario. Wide-ranging and erudite, the lectures move across literary phenomena from antiquity to the present, yet retain the informal, conversational quality of the spoken word—unhurried, digressive, effortlessly controlled. "This Craft of Verse is a book about literature, about taste, and about Borges himself... Borges converses with writers and texts across the ages, and even when the material has been cited and discussed many times over, it never loses its savor."

Editor's review

*This Craft of Verse* is not a systematic tutorial on poetry writing but a distillation of Borges's reflections on the nature of poetry, aesthetics, and creation. The book originates from his six Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University in 1967, later compiled into a volume. Unlike the common writing guides on the market, Borges here plays the role of a guide through time and space, leading readers on a journey through Dante's *Divine Comedy*, Whitman's *Leaves of Grass*, the Norse sagas, and the Eastern *One Thousand and One Nights*, exploring grand themes such as metaphor, narrative, translation, and immortality. His discussion, like his fiction, is full of intellectual labyrinths and elegant loops. His core view—that poetry is "a magic performed by the reader"—overturns the traditional view of creation and elevates reading itself to a creative aesthetic experience. The value of reading this book lies in directly hearing a literary master's most intimate and vivid intellectual dialogue, and feeling how he transforms vast reading into eternal humility and love for literature. It offers not techniques but a profound way of seeing literature and the world.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers eager to understand the nature of poetry and literature rather than merely learn writing techniques
Borges enthusiasts who wish to better understand his intellectual trajectory through his non-fiction lectures
Literary researchers and enthusiasts interested in comparative literature, translation theory, or narratology
Sophisticated literary readers who enjoy speculation and intellectual pleasure in reading

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking step-by-step, formulaic introductory guides to poetry writing
Readers expecting systematic theoretical monographs or rigorous academic papers

Reading tips

Read it as a series of essays or conversations; there is no need to read it in one sitting—any chapter can be dipped into at will
For a richer experience, read alongside the classic poetic texts mentioned in the book (such as works by Whitman and Frost)
Borges's views are often thought-provoking and subversive; while reading, note your own questions or objections to form a personal trajectory of thought

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
第一讲诗之谜
1
2
第二讲隐喻
第三讲说故事
第四讲文字—音韵与翻译
第五讲诗与思潮
第六讲诗人的信条
论收放自如的诗艺

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no foundation in poetry at all?

The book focuses more on philosophical and aesthetic discussion than on basic introduction. If you are completely unfamiliar with the many authors and works mentioned, there may be a barrier to understanding. It is recommended for readers with some accumulated reading of Western literary classics.

How does this book differ in style from Borges's fiction?

Compared with the carefully constructed narrative labyrinths of his fiction, *This Craft of Verse* is presented in a colloquial lecture style—more approachable and direct, full of spontaneous wit and insight. It serves as a kind of "meta-commentary" on the ideas in his fiction, and the two illuminate each other.

What are the features of this edition from Shanghai Translation Publishing House?

This edition is translated from the authoritative English compilation of Borges's Norton Lectures. The translation is fluent and effectively preserves the flavor of Borges's spoken lectures and the edge of his thought, making it one of the more recognized Chinese editions.

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About the author

Jorge Luis Borges Author · Argentina · 1899–1986

Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, essayist and translator. Born in Buenos Aires in 1899 and died in Geneva in 1986, he served as director of the National Library and held a post at the University of Buenos Aires. His short stories, notably those collected in The Garden of Forking Paths, The Aleph and The Book of Sand, often explore labyrinths, infinity, dreams and metaphysical themes, with intricate structures and a strong speculative bent. He was also a master of essays and criticism, writing in a concise, intellectually charged style. His works are widely classified as foreign literature and modern classics, and 53 titles are available in this collection.

陈重仁 Author

Chen Chongren is an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. He graduated from the Department of English at National Chengchi University and the Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. Publicly available information about him is limited: details of his life, dates of birth and death, and nationality are not clearly documented, and his confirmed role is chiefly that of a translator and teaching researcher in the field of foreign literature. Among his known works, he has translated Borges's This Craft of Verse and related writings; two of his works are included in the collection, both classified under foreign literature, with This Craft of Verse as a representative title. His translation interests center on Latin American literature that combines speculative thought with poetic expression, and his translations attend to the argumentative thread and linguistic texture of the originals, offering Chinese-language readers a readable reference for understanding Borges's poetics.