The Sinophone in the mirror. Identity and translingualism in poetry self‑translation

In the recent yet widely explored research field of translation studies, little scholarly attention has been paid to contemporary Sinophone literature and especially to the genre of poetry, despite its paramount importance within the Chinese literary tradition. This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of the complex phenomenon of poetic self-translation in the translingual and translational Sinosphere by probing the lyrical selftranslation of Chris Song. Song is a contemporary poet, scholar, and editor born in China and now residing in Toronto, who attunes his acquired Anglophone self with his original Sinophone identity, which in turn comprises both Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. Song’s views on such activity expressed via his responses to my queries are presented alongside my critical reflection on his poetics of self-translation, carried out through a close reading of his bilingual lyrical collection Zishi zhi hua 自噬之花 / mirror me (2017).