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From the May Fourth Movement to Communist Revolution: Guo Moruo and the Chinese Path to Communism . By Xiaoming Chen. pp. xi, 156. Albany, State University of New York Press, 2007.

Listen-to-the-Rain Pavilion in Autumn” and Wang’s “Two Verses of Evening Sailing on the River Xiang” in relation to the historical events. Chapter 2 looks at Fan Zengxiang and Yi Shunding’s paradoxical uses of such “outdated” techniques as allusion and rhymes to explore contemporary issues (p. 71). It is not insignificant that Kowallis uses categories for these poets’ works (“allusionist”, “TongGuang style”, “neo-ancient” school) throughout his study that are different from the conventional ones that follow the poets’ ostensible connection to Tang or Song masters. As such, the book itself is designed to stir a “subtle revolution” and change our understanding of Chinese poetry in fundamental ways. Chapter 3 thinks a crucial question through the works of Chen Sanli, Chen Yan, and Zheng Xiaoxu: should a ‘modern’ poet devote himself to social activism or be content in the role of an astute, objective observer of the historical events? Chen’s works are framed by allusions to historical events of his time, and he even openly comments on the Russo-Japanese War, endowing the subject of his “A Short Song Sent to Yang Shumei”, China, with a “pathetic, almost antiheroic quality” (p. 182). Likewise, Zheng’s poetry is filled with blatant political commentary. This chapter also engages productively with such new critics as F. R. Leavis, C. Day Lewis, C. B. Cox, and Arnold P. Hinchliffe, especially their discussion of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, modernists who, in Kowallis’ words, seem to be “playing a power game in terms of language with critics” (p. 203). The comparative analysis brings into perspective various ideas of literary modernism and maintains that Chinese poetic modernity is not a product of translation and mimicry of western models (p. 245). The Subtle Revolution argues convincingly that the influence of classical poetry extended far into the twentieth century, even beyond the May Fourth generation (pp. 7–8). Above all, grasp of modern topics is not the only prerequisite to literary modernity. As the cases of Fan Zengxiang and Chen Sanli show, the modernity of these poems also lies in the ironic distance the poets are able to maintain with their contemporary history (pp. 238–240) which leads to the expression of a sense of personal alienation in a modernity “expressed in the classical forms” (pp. 168–231). This is heady stuff, but the author has presented his meticulous research in accessible prose. Kowallis’ book is a refreshing and timely contribution to the study of Chinese poetry. It is a somber reminder of the abuse of such ideas as transnationality in the study of modern Chinese literature in our age of globalisation. Frequent and lengthy block quotes could seem off-putting to the uninitiated, but this is a small quibble. The book will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars of modern and traditional Chinese literature, Qing studies, comparative literature, and Anglo-European poetic traditions interested in comparative study. The book may also find audience in a general readership, since it has an annotated bibliography, texts of all poems in Chinese, eight full page illustrations, and the author’s translation of Fan Zengxiang’s Song of Rainbow Cloud (Caiyun qu), the first complete translation into any foreign language (pp. 95–122).