Ideograms in China

""China, land where one meditated upon the tracings of a calligrapher as, in other countries, one would meditate upon a mantra,"" writes Henri Michaux (1899-1984) in Ideograms in China, his prose poem about Chinese orthography. Michaux offers an impressionistic history of Chinese characters, tracing the evolution of ""the oldest living language in the world"" as he contemplates its unique capacity to convey poetic expression. Originally published as an introduction to Leon Chang's La calligraphie chinoise and previously only available as a limited addition, the poem is translated from the French by American expatriate poet Gustaf Sobin and illustrated with Chinese calligraphy. (Feb. 27)