[腳本/video script] 主持稿 Host Script ｜華語文學 Sinophone Literature｜Zheng Chou-yu 鄭愁予｜他們在島嶼寫作 The Inspired Island: A Series of Eminent Writers from Taiwan｜TaiwanPlus

Zheng Chou-yu 鄭愁予                                          

 

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the literature world. I’m your host, Arnaud Campagne. 

 

This week we’ll present Zheng Chou-yu, one of the most important poets in Modern Sinophone Literature.

 

Zheng was born in a military family in Shandon (山東), China in 1933, and moved to Taiwan at 16. His study for Classical Chinese Literature during his young age, especially Chi (詞), inspired him to write in a natural, candid style with saturated emotions and concise wording.[1] 

 

As Siegfried Sassoon wrote, “In me the tiger sniffs the rose,” Zheng was the affectionate kind. Just at 19, he published his iconic poem, Mistake, with a female narrator missing someone far away and sighing on the loneliness. 

 

With talents and tenacity, Zheng became a distinguished poet. He was affiliated with other poets, such as Ji Xian (紀弦), Lin lin (林泠), and Shang Qin (商禽), and became a big believer in Modernist Poetry (現代詩派), which focused on intellectual writing.

 

In 1968, he moved to America to study at University of Iowa. During the time, he befriended the American poet, Paul Engle, whose elegy perfectly captures Zheng's soul-searching journey for poetry that says, “I can’t move mountains. But I can make light.”

 

Zheng, a beacon to literature lovers, now lives in Kinmen (金門), Taiwan, still dedicated to writing.[2] 

 

Zheng has wandered his life as if he was in the mist[3] . But let us have a peek into Zheng Chou-yu’s lush and lyrical life, and how he sees the light and be the light in the mist.

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 [1]裡面鄭愁予自述，作品受「詞」的影響很大，因而在這邊強調他的寫作風格：自然、誠懇、飽含情緒、用字精確，與詞類似

 

[2]用「光」連結上下文：

 

上面：我不能移動山谷，但我可以造光

 

此段：鄭如同燈塔屹立不搖，持續發光，並持續在金門寫作

 

下面：

鄭愁予看見光、成為光，走過迷霧（如同標題提到霧）

 

[3]鄭愁予此集，主題是霧，因而使用