Hong Ying, I Too Am Salammbo (translated by Mabel Lee)

Since 1988 Hong Ying has published six major collections of poetry, her most recent being I Too Am Salammbo, a retrospective collection of poems that she has selected and arranged in rough chronological order. As in her novels Hong Ying does not baulk at exploring female sexuality. She, as author, can only re-present the characters of her novels in accordance with how she perceives them: as a woman. However her poetry is highly personal, shedding light on her personal life, including her own sexuality and sexual experiences. Female sexuality and experiences are addressed with spontaneity and naturalness, authenticating the fact that such experiences are natural human behaviour. For Hong Ying's cult followers, her poetry is as important as her novels.

Vagabond's release of Mabel Lee's translation of I Too Am Salammbo represents the first collection in English of one of China's most important contemporary poets. 

Hong Ying is internationally acclaimed for her novels Summer of Betrayal, Daughter of the River, K: the Art of Love (awarded the Premio Letterario Rome Prize in 2005), Peacock Cries, Lord of Shanghai and Death in Shanghai. A number of these novels have been made into films and TV series. 

Mabel Lee is a member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and holds honorary professorial appointments at the University of Sydney and the Open University of Hong Kong.  She is the translator of 2000 Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian’s works, including Soul Mountain and One Man’s Bible, and most recently The Aesthetics of Creation and Song of the Night. 

Cover image © Lin Chunyan, Moon. 100 x 120cm. Oil on canvas, 2007. Courtesy of the artist.

Release date: March 31, 2015.

164pp. 2015. ISBN 978-1-922181-39-8.