The Last Myth: The Mystery of Poetic Suicide

Author: Mao Jian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: "This may be the last the poet wrote for his life's symphony, the final he wrote for his life story, the last the poet drew for his myth of ending, or the last the poet left for the living, one that can never be deciphered." The opening of The Last Myth: The Mystery of the Poet's Suicide poses a question of the century: What is a poet? Amidst confusion and indulgence, how can one face the "eyes of the dying" without losing one's rational life coordinates? The exploration of death has always been perilous. We have remained silent, afraid of the prophecy coming true, afraid that the dark, vast wings might touch us unexpectedly, freezing our hearts into hard crystal in an instant. Everyone knows death is inevitable. We close our eyes, but poets choose to keep them open, walking through that one-way door between light and darkness. The author of this book, Mao Jian, is brave. He lifts his hand from his eyes and attempts to "touch life, interpret a different kind of existence." He begins by examining the views on death from Eastern and Western poets, then traces the themes of death and suicide in literary works, analyzes the social psychological and personal inner motivations behind poets' suicides, and ultimately tries to unravel the "not the answer to the mystery" from the unique perspective of mythic thinking. Falling cherry blossoms and "Paradise Lost," the cloth-clad figures of the "wheat field" and the hopeless laments, "black snow" and "red Medusa"—the poets completed their last creation through self-fulfillment. It is the final letting go as well as the final embrace, the eternal downfall as well as the complete liberation. Life is a fairy tale, a metaphor. Easy pleasure comes from living in a drunken haze, but the best is still "waking up," even if one's eyes are blinded by the light in the very moment of opening them. Still, Rilke said it best: "What victory is there? To endure means everything!"