The Years in My Hair

£13

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Over the decades, Dan Ying has forged a literary oeuvre of subtle and profound works influenced by classical Chinese poetry and Buddhist and Taoist philosophies, expressing the poet’s inner world in simple, graceful language rich in emotion, metaphor and meaning.

This book offers a comprehensive view of this distinguished Singaporean poet’s literary oeuvre, spanning six eventful decades. Starting with Dan Ying’s early work that shows her great love for classical Chinese poetry – in particular that of the Tang and Song periods – as well as values informed by Buddhist and Taoist philosophies, the collection explores themes such as nature and simple living, poverty and modern-day womanhood, and the act of writing itself. Singapore summers; late autumn in America; lyrical meditations on the art of Taichi; adrift fireflies; a sorrowful Erhu player etc are some of the wistful encounters in this collection, vividly rendered into English by Christina Ng.

Praise for The Years in My Hair

“From the longing of a twenty-three-year-old who once let her lover’s head rest on her lap at the hem of her ‘tight-tight black skirt’ to the wistful musing of a career woman doing household chores on a Sunday, thinking of her absentee husband, Dan Ying’s lifework in Christina Ng’s translation displays the precise irony and Zen wisdom of Wisława Szymborska as well as the poetic chi and playfulness of Marilyn Chin. Close reading and locating the energy centers [dantian] of this body of work will certainly improve one’s emotional balance.” – Ko Ko Thett, poet and editor

“Steeped in classical tradition, Dan Ying’s poetry, translated by Christina Ng, invests in the nostalgia of lost landscapes while extending its parameters to the “many calamities” of our times. Bridging classical legends and modern exile, Ying captures the “warp and weft of life and death”. While her “weather-beaten” verse reflects the heavy weight of the past, it also finds a “sparkling clear” resilience within the grit of everyday human affairs.” – Kit Fan, poet, novelist, critic.

“Lyrical and delicate, Christina Ng’s translation of the poetry by Dan Ying captures the inner world of individual female sensibility while staying evocative of a sense of place” – Jennifer Wong, poet and writer.

“The writing is at once mystical and personal, intimate and massive, sensitive to emotion and the seasons, and also to the strong sweeps and movements of history. Dan Ying playfully teases and then resists exoticism, toying with the staples of Chinese literature that international audiences seem to like (the musical instruments, the idiomatic phrasing, the landscape, Taichi/Daoism/Buddhism/Zen) then reclaiming and wittily puncturing them to produce a body of work which is at once classic and contemporary. Family life, everyday routines and personal humour combine with timeless imagery and a silky, sardonic tone – this was very pleasurable to read. My favourite poems are all from the These Are Human Affairs Too segment, especially the title poem, and I loved the afterwords and notes as well – it was like a conversation with a literary figure who is at once a great poet and a real person living in the real world. Yet also someone who has a boundless and undivided sense of time: the everyday and the ancient, the daily and the dynastic, all coexist together.” – Bidisha, broadcaster, journalist and film-maker.