I have heard scholars of Chinese - who speak both Chinese and English - also
give Kenneth Rexroth high marks for his translations from mainly ancient
Chinese poetries. My knowledge - which may not be accurate - is that
Kenneth worked from cribbed English versions, and did know a whit of
Chinese.
Blindfolded, some consistently remain astonishingly good at "pinning the
tail on the Donkey."
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
> Interesting, indeed, Alison.
>
> I do recall at least one book on Pound's 'translations' that argued
> that, despite his faults & failures, he got closer to the spirit of the
> originals than many stricter translations.
>
> Old Friend from Far Away: 150 Chinese Poems from the Great Dynasties,
> translated by C H Kwock and Vincent McHugh (North Point Press 1980) is
> especially interesting because they argue, in a long & very interesting
> Afterword, the importance of making a good poem in the new language.
> It's a complex argument, however, yet they acknowledge Pound's
> importance.
>
> Their translations look & feel like late modernist poetry in english, &
> they swing...
>
> Doug
> On 18-May-07, at 8:33 AM, Alison Croggon wrote:
>
>> A generous lurker tracked down the Du Fu translation exercise I
>> mentioned
>> earlier - if anyone's interested, it's at
>>
>> *http://inside.bard.edu/capstonejournal/2003/df-index.htm
>> * <http://inside.bard.edu/capstonejournal/2003/df-index.htm>
>>
>> xA
>>
>> --
>> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
>> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>>
>>
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>
>
> Peace isn't even as good a sales item
> as poetry.
>
> W. H. Ferry
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