Writing this from Orlando, Florida, folks--Just picked up a verse
retelling of The Secret History of the Mongols, adapted by Paul Kahn
from the scholarly translation by Francis Cleaves of the Yuan Ch'ao Pi
Shih--and it's pretty good reading. Esentially Khan takes Cleaves'
scholarly framework and moves it to the back of the book, simplifies the
diction and the syntax and sets it all up in free-verse stanzas. I think
disencumbering the text in such a manner allows us to catch the story
line better, but I have some doubts about Khan's ear for the English
language. The stories more than make up for that, however. In addition
I've met up with a young woman from Kazakhstan who is teaching me a bit
about the poets there. She says their greatest modern poet is someone
by the name of Abai. Of course, this area of Asia shares in a profound
Shamanic tradition centered on the horse and the drum. Come to think of
it, the Koreans also have the same two poles of shamanic experience.
Jesse
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