{"id":2385,"date":"2014-02-06T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T01:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2014-02-04T00:09:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T16:09:12","slug":"ilan-stavans-in-conversation-with-xiao-hai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2385","title":{"rendered":"Ilan Stavans in Conversation with Xiao Hai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"XiaoIlan Stavans talks to Xiao Hai <\/a>to promote the latter’s new book Song of Shadows<\/em>, translated by Zhu Yu:<\/p>\n

\n

What in Song of Shadows<\/em> might get lost in translation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to translate poetry. A translation can be correct or wrong, good or bad. A translation may gain or lose something from the original, too. The present translator of Song of Shadows<\/em> is one I trust in. She has been studying, teaching, and translating English poetry for many years, and she writes poems, too. She translated Song of Shadows<\/em> because she loves it. She didn\u2019t think of getting it published when she started the translation. Instead, she wanted to compare the subtle differences of the long poem expressed in different languages. The things that are difficult to translate lie in 1) the classical Chinese poems and historical stories I mention in this work that may be unfamiliar to a Western audience and 2) pun and polysemy that may not work in different languages.<\/p>\n

What is the status of poetry in China now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poetry still enjoys a loyal readership in contemporary China. Every good poet (past and present, home and abroad) has his or her audience, though poetry is not as popular as movies or music.\u00a0 Poets cannot feed themselves on writing alone, but they always have their followers as long as they stick to their free will and creative power and are willing to lead a simple or even hard life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click the image above for the full conversation, on dining tables, eyeglasses, censorship, and publishing fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ilan Stavans talks to Xiao Hai to promote the latter’s new book Song of Shadows, translated by Zhu Yu: What in Song of Shadows might get lost in translation? It\u2019s difficult to translate poetry. A translation can be correct or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1331,1323,1322],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Ct","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3130,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3130","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":0},"title":"Restless Interview with Xiao Hai","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To promote Song of Shadows, Restless Books has published an interview between Ilan Stavans and Xiao Hai \u5c0f\u6d77, translated by Zhu Yu \u6731\u7389, titled \"It\u2019s Difficult to Translate Poetry.\" Here's the key excerpt: It\u2019s difficult to translate poetry. A translation can be correct or wrong, good or bad. A translation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2765,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2765","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":1},"title":"Song of Shadows from Restless Books","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Restless Books announces the publication of Song of Shadows by Xiao Hai \u5c0f\u6d77, translated by Zhu Yu \u6731\u7389. Here's a hint: \u5f71\u5b50\u8bf4\uff0c \u5728\u786e\u5b9a\u7684\u672b\u65e5\uff0c \u6211\u4eec\u8981\u52a0\u500d\u7e41\u6b96\uff0c \u5c31\u50cf\u4f60\u4eec\u7684\u8bcd\u5178\u2013 \u2013 \u3002 Shadows say, \u201cOn the decided doomsday, we will multiply more than ever, just like your dictionary\u2014\u201d Click on the cover image above for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/static.squarespace.com\/static\/51f6ae70e4b083675be61a65\/t\/53a2083ce4b04eb2cd4729e0\/1403127883939\/Song%20of%20Shadows","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2363,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2363","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":2},"title":"Words from the Translator Zhu Yu","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Zhu Yu \u6731\u7389 on her translation of Song of Shadows by Xiao Hai \u5c0f\u6d77: As an often-helpless researcher of poets from centuries past, I used to envy those who translated contemporary poetry, for I thought that if they encountered any difficulties, they could always turn to the living author. However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":931,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=931","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":3},"title":"Jade Ladder’s Poets","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've compiled a list of the poets whose work appears in English translation in Jade Ladder, the new anthology of contemporary Chinese poetry edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, W N Herbert, Brian Holton, and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87. The anthology presents the work of poets by birth year, but the work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":372,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=372","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":4},"title":"Chinese Names in Push Open the Window","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When I first wrote about the Copper Canyon anthology Push Open the Window, I said, \"My only quibble with the book so far is that, while everything is printed with Chinese and English en face, for some reason the Chinese characters of none of the poets\u2019 names made it into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3798,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3798","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":5},"title":"Zero Distance Anthology of New Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcing Zero Distance | New Poetry from China, edited and translated By Liang Yujing--newly published by Tinfish Press. \"Another anthology?\" you're probably thinking--\"Just what we need! Put it on the shelf next to the other dozen or so anthologies of modern and contemporary Chinese poetry that have been published in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tinfishpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zero.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}