University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies

In 1932, a group of leftist poets in Shanghai established the China Poetry Society, aiming to produce poetry that would enlighten and mobilize the masses to be the self-conscious political subject. This talk revisits the poetic works and theories of the members of the Society, focusing in particular on the extensive discussion on the historical origin and political relevance of poetic rhythm and its relationship with labor. Tracking the transnational circulation and transformation of the new knowledge of bodily rhythm and poetic rhythm since the late 19th century, this talk shows how a new conception of poetic rhythm as a mediating and mobilizing device gave rise to a series of leftist poetic experiments that attempted to construct the collective political subject through invoking the bodily solidarity of the laboring masses.