Author(s): Mike Johnson

New Zealand Literature

Medieval Chinese poet Li He lived in the last brief flowering of the T'ang dynasty from 790-816, his evocations of the heavenly and the nether worlds are unique, possibly in the whole of the Chinese cannon and are the source of his honorific title, 'the demon talented one'. Mike Johnson's collection of poems preserves the extraordinary imagery of the originals, while allowing Li He to be read without difficulty by a wider public.