There is something of that Quinean notion of radical translation, Joanna
(you cannot step into the same translation twice, or something like that).
In this instance, though, I had a specific idea of pictograms versus
alphabetic script. If we regard the latter as a sort of tape recorder whose
function is limited to making it possible to record and play back speech,
the pictogram seems to do something different, not to 'talk' in quite the
same way. Thus, if one is not 'talking to the page' when composing text with
pictograms, then interpreting those pictograms is not a language task --
it's more like a concrete poem. It's like asking how would you read one of
the items in Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden, maybe.
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Joanna Boulter
> Sent: 18 May 2007 18:28
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Yang Lian
>
> Is the written poem a notation of the original oral? Or are you saying
> that
> one starts from the written word and then reads it aloud? I find that a
> difficult concept to get my head round. After all, spoken language
> predated
> the written word, and even the pictogram.
>
> I can however go along with the idea that any language, spoken or
> written,
> is a translation of the original thought.
>
> joanna
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Cudmore" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 6:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Yang Lian
>
>
> >I should like to hear the original spoken. But would that be a
> solecism? Is
> > it the case that, for a listener who understands the native language
> the
> > poem is written in, something has already been 'lost in translation'
> in
> > hearing the poem spoken as opposed to reading it from the page?
> >
> > P
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >> On Behalf Of Alison Croggon
> >> Sent: 18 May 2007 15:33
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Fwd: Yang Lian
> >>
> >> 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
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