Viktor Berberi (University of Minnesota, Morris): Transnationalism and Non-Belonging in the Poetry of Gezim Hajdari.

When dealing with poetry written in an adopted language, the critic must consider the poet’s own notions of his or her text as original, translation, palimpsest and of its status in relation to two or more linguistic and literary cultures. With regard to the symbolic voyage between two languages (Albanian and Italian) that he and his poems undertake, Gezim Hajdari writes: “It is not betrayal, but enrichment. It is a point of departure for a true dialogue capable of tearing down all national and territorial fences.” That Hajdari operates successfully as a poet both in Albanian and in Italian, and that he in effect erases the line between the two activities, if not quite an epistemological overturning, is in practice a rejection of the old Italian saw that suggests that any act of translation is not only a betrayal of the text, but perhaps also an act of treason against the national literature. Ironically, Hajdari sees his work, instead, as contributing to the safeguarding of Italian culture, and having less to do with the notion of the redemptive value of the exile’s life, as exemplar, than with his mission as poet, as guarantor of the authenticity of language. After a brief introduction to the history of migration literature in Italy, I go on to focus on Hajdari’s poetry insofar as it positions itself as a challenge to categories of (literary) identity grounded in national, religious and linguistic distinctions.


Miranda, Zhang Donghui (Bemidji State University): Idyllist & Hermit Tao Yuanming.

Tao Yuanming also known as Tao Qian, (Táo Qián; T'ao Ch'ien, 365– 427), lived during the East Jin period, born in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, was one of the most influential pre- Tang Dynasty Chinese poets. His natural style helped define the ideal Chinese poem and though he lived a poor and simple life, he enjoyed it very much. His spirited, modest character was greatly admired by his contemporaries.

He came from a notable family which had descended into poverty; when young, he was torn between ambition and a desire to retreat into solitude. His great-grandfather, Tao Kan , was the famous Eastern Jin general and governor. He served in a series of minor posts, but his sister's death, as well as disgust at the corruption and infighting of the Jin Court prompted his resignation, convincing him that life was too short to compromise on his principles; as he put it himself, 'I shall not break my back for five bushels of grain' (The term 'five bushels of grain' is often used to describe officialdom). He lived in retirement for his last 22 years.

Tao Yuanming began the tradition of the idyll. Approximately 130 of his works survive. Most of them were poems or essays, which depict an idyllic pastoral life of farming and drinking; because of this he would later be termed the "Poet of the Fields". While his poems were not influential in his time, they would later be a major influence on the poetry of the Tang and Song Dynasties.His poems, the language of which was plain, fresh and smooth, reached the highest achievement of simplicity but also had much exuberance.

Three of his well-known poems Drinking Wine, Returning to Live in the Country (I,II) which are being studied by Chinese middle schools students, display his philosophy of life and his comfort and joy being close to nature. My essay tries to introduce and explain these three poems by studying his life story and experiences combined.


John Peacock (Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore): Story of Dakota Origins, Imprisonment, and Exile: A Poetry Reading.

Mis on napeya ohna yumdapi ska de akan ti / Dakota wicoie iyohi, wakan.
To me, living in exile on this white page / Each and every Dakota word is sacred.

Thus begins a manuscript of poems I am writing, on facing pages, in two languages -- the endangered Dakota language that my Native American grandparents spoke, and the English language that my half-blood uncles were forced to learn as students in Indian boarding school.

“Story of Dakota Origins, Imprisonment, and Exile” includes the Dakota origin story, based on oral tradition; a reconstruction of first contact with white traders; and an account of the removal, following the Minnesota Dakota War of 1862, of all Dakota from their Minnesota homeland to reservations in North and South Dakota (including the Spirit Lake Dakota reservation, where I am enrolled.) This last section is based on letters dictated in 1862 in Dakota to missionary Stephen Riggs by my ancestor Wakanhditopa (Four Lightning), writing on behalf of Dakota war prisoners at Davenport, Iowa.

Dakota was an entirely oral language until 1832, when missionaries created a written orthography to help them Christianize and re-educate my grandparents’ generation.

Some of these poems have already been read at the Minnesota Historical Society and published in Studies in American Indian Literatures, American Indian Quarterly, and the International Journal for the Arts in Society, which named the manuscript a 2007 runner-up for an International Award for Excellence in the Arts and one of its ten highest ranked referred papers.