The Life of Tu Fu (Bilingual Chinese and English) by Eliot Weinberger

**A Fictional Autobiography of Du Fu's Life** Weinberger masterfully employs a collage technique, drawing inspiration from Du Fu's vast collection of over a thousand poems. He reweaves their verses, imagery, and emotions into fifty-eight new poems. These poems unfold like flowing scrolls, depicting Du Fu's tumultuous life and his experiences amidst war and plague. Though separated by a millennium, perhaps in our post-pandemic era, we can better appreciate the profound solitude and desolation in Du Fu's poetry. This work is not only a tribute to Du Fu's life but also a reflection on ourselves, on suffering, and on the fleeting nature of existence. Drawing inspirations from a vast oeuvre of more than a thousand poems, Eliot Weinberger has deftly composed a montage of fifty-eight poems derived and adapted from the lines, images, and feelings in Tu Fu’s poetry. These poems weave a tapestry of Tu Fu’s turbulent life and times of war and disaster. In the post-pandemic era, we may appreciate the profound solitude and desolation in Tu Fu’s poetry that still resonates across the span of a millennium. More than an homage to the life of Tu Fu, this work is a meditation on the self, suffering, and our transient beings. Full Title: The Life of Tu Fu (Bilingual Chinese and English) Author: Eliot Weinberger Translator: Dong Li ISBN: 978-988-237-380-8 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese and English Pages: 140 Dimensions: 210 x 126 mm **About the Author** **ELIOT WEINBERGER** A writer, translator, and editor, described by The New York Times as “one of the world’s great essayists.” Weinberger's essay collections include Karmic Traces, An Elemental Thing, The Ghosts of Birds, and Angels & Saints. He has a deep interest in classical Chinese poetry, authoring Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, editing The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, and serving as the general editor for the series "Calligrams: Writings from and on China." He introduced the poetry of Bei Dao to the English-speaking world and has translated a vast amount of Latin American poetry and prose, including works by Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz and Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, as well as the collected writings of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. His works have been translated into over thirty languages. Eliot Weinberger, described by The New York Times as “one of the world’s great essayists,” is a celebrated author, translator, and editor. His books include Karmic Traces, An Elemental Thing, The Ghosts of Birds, and Angels & Saints, as well as Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei. He is a translator of the poetry of Bei Dao, the editor of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, and the general editor of the series “Calligrams: Writings from and on China.” Weinberger’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages. **About the Translator** **DONG LI** A multilingual author and translator working in German, French, English, and Chinese. His debut poetry collection, *The Orange Tree*, received the inaugural Phoenix Emerging Poet Book Prize from the University of Chicago Press and was shortlisted for the Poetry Society of America and the T. S. Eliot Foundation's "Four Quartets" Prize. A multilingual author who translates from Chinese, English, French, and German. His debut poetry collection, The Orange Tree (University of Chicago Press, 2023), was the inaugural winner of the Phoenix Emerging Poet Book Prize and a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s T. S. Eliot Four Quartets Prize. **Comments** Weinberger is like an ancient Chinese zither player, tuning and gazing at the world in solitude amidst the mountains. — **Bei Dao** Du Fu, who has traversed multiple eras, wars, and languages, returns to our present lives with his multifaceted presence. Du Fu transforms from a Chinese Du Fu into an English Du Fu—in fact, he transforms into a Du Fu of many languages. Thus, one Du Fu becomes a multitude of Du Fus, becoming the Du Fu of the world. — **Xi Chuan** Is this a genetically recombined Du Fu, or a Du Fu from a parallel universe? What is certain is that this is a living Du Fu, a Du Fu whose "poems are abundant and unrestrained." Unexploited by literary history or theory, the poems are a life reborn from translation. — **Liao Weitang** My favorite essayist is Eliot Weinberger. His remarkable breadth of calm concern is impressive. —**Gary Snyder** (Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1975) This is a book concerned with mortality, friendship, and regret. The psyche looking back at its life. As such, The Life of Tu Fu sometimes feels like a poetic biography of my own life, or maybe yours. —**Forrest Gander** (Pulitzer Prize Winner, 2019)