Guest of the ilb 2004
Tianxin Cai was born in Huangyan, in the South East
of the People's Republic of China, in 1963. He studied mathematics and
received a doctorate with a dissertation on number theory from
Shandong University in 1987. For several years Cai was a visiting
lecturer and professor in France and North and South America. His
publications include many research papers on mathematics in prestigious
journals. Tianxin Cai is also considered to be among the most
active young Chinese avant-garde authors. He has participated in
international poetry festivals in Medellín, Colombia, and Rosario,
Argentina, as well as in Zurich, Genoa, Vilenica, Slovenia, and Durban,
South Africa. Since the publication of his first volume of poetry
'Bi An'(t: Shore), in 1992, another three volumes have appeared in
China. A Spanish collection of his lyrical work, 'La desnudez
antigua' was published in Colombia in 2002. Although he prefers
to deal with everyday situations, the author tends to employ a
surrealist perspective, as is conveyed in the poem 'Sunlight'.
Quote: "The sun is mango. / Cut open the day. / Left uncut, the
evening. / We swallow sunlight / Making strong muscles. / While we
sleep / Sunlight flows into our blood / Travels throughout our body. /
On its journey meets / Another piece of sunlight." Using
simplified language, he intensifies images of nature and metaphors of
time and infinity; in the same way, he enhances the sensual aesthetic
of space by the bare form of his lines. Since 1995, Tianxin Cai
has been editing the biannual literary magazine 'Apollinaire', which
has developed into one of the most important underground magazines in
China. Apart from poetry he is engaged in writing travelogues and
essays. In addition, he has translated into Chinese various
authors, including Elizabeth Bishop, Margaret Atwood, Jorge Luis
Borges, Octavio Paz, and Gabriel García Márquez. His biography on
Elizabeth Bishop entitled 'Bei Fang, Nan Fang'(t: North and South), was
published in 2000, it depicts her journeys as well as her lyrical
work. A volume of translations of American poetry and prose
appeared in 2003, and another volume of essays in the same year.
Cai is a regular columnist in the Shanghai magazine 'Book
City', considered to be the Chinese 'New Yorker'. This year
he edited a selection of 20th century poetry in two volumes.
Tianxin Cai lives in Hangzhou, where he is a professor of mathematics
at Zhejiang University.
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