{"id":2396,"date":"2014-02-14T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T01:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2396"},"modified":"2014-02-14T09:34:37","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T01:34:37","slug":"2396","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2396","title":{"rendered":"Pastreich’s Confucius on Shifts in Institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In\u00a0\u201cWise Words of Confucius on Shifts in Institutions<\/a>\u201d Emanuel Pastreich presents a translation of Confucius so as (per an explanation elsewhere) “to write something that does not sound too sage-like [but rather] is essentially of the same style as contemporary American political discourse … If Confucian writings are translated as the words of sages, closer to the register of the Bible or of Plato, their impact on contemporary American political discourse will be limited.” He translates:<\/p>\n

If the terms that we employ to describe the institutions in society cease to be accurate representations of what those institutions have become, then, although we can discuss the problems of our age, the discussion will not correspond with the actual reality in a political or economic sense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pastreich applies this to the banking industry:<\/p>\n

Confucius suggested that the problems we encounter in the political realm are the result of a slippage in the meaning of the terms that we use to describe. For example, there has been tremendous slippage in the significance of the term \u201cbank\u201d and that slippage has introduced chaos into our society. Although we use the word \u201cbank\u201d without even thinking about its meaning, the term\u2019s significance is far from clear. Whereas the word \u201cbank\u201d referred to an organization with a rather limited mandate to lend money under strict regulations, it has evolved into a complex financial instrument whose roles are multifarious and changing rapidly as money itself has shifted in its significance as a result of the IT revolution. We need perhaps to redefine \u201cmoney\u201d at the same time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What I find so striking about this is that while the method of translation is very, very different than translation of Chinese according to the imagined Confucian notion by Ezra Pound, both present us with a similar investigation of the morality of economics, specifically as relates to banking.<\/p>\n

\n
Stonecutter is kept from his tone
\nweaver is kept from his loom
\nWITH USURA
\nwool comes not to market
\nsheep bringeth no gain with usura
\nUsura is a murrain, usura
\nblunteth the needle in the maid\u2019s hand
\nand stoppeth the spinner\u2019s cunning.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In\u00a0\u201cWise Words of Confucius on Shifts in Institutions\u201d Emanuel Pastreich presents a translation of Confucius so as (per an explanation elsewhere) “to write something that does not sound too sage-like [but rather] is essentially of the same style as contemporary … 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":[3,16],"tags":[780,1334,38],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8srwF-2396","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4107,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4107","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":0},"title":"Turner on Wai-lim Yip’s Arrivals and Departures","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The newest issue of Seedings includes Matt Turner's review of Arrivals and Departures: Poems, Memoir, and Chronology, the selected English language poetry of Wai-lim Yip \u8449\u7dad\u5ec9. Turner writes of how Yip's \"aesthetic horizon\" draws off, but differs from, Chinese poetics: But how exactly does this aesthetic horizon represent itself? For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/durationpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/seedings-5_f-cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1436","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":1},"title":"Lucas Klein at Short Takes on Long Poems","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The video of my discussion of Xi Chuan and Yang Lian \u694a\u7149 in terms of Ezra Pound, \"Ideogrammic Methods: The Space of Writing and Tradition in Contemporary Chinese Long Poetry,\" from the Short Takes on Long Poems conference in honor of Rachel Blau DuPlessis last March in New Zealand, has\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":1370,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1370","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":2},"title":"Bookslut Reviews Notes on the Mosquito","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The online literary journal Bookslut has posted Greer Mansfield's excellent review of my translation of Xi Chuan titled \"Notes on Xi Chuan\u2019s Notes on the Mosquito: Selected Poems.\" Here's an excerpt: Xi Chuan has translated Borges and even written a poem about him, but these prose poems bring to mind\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":38,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=38","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":3},"title":"Xi Chuan on Tagore and Modern Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just came across the following video, a lecture by Xi Chuan in English from Spring, 2009, to the Columbia University Alumni Association in Beijing. He discusses the relationship between Xu Zhimo \u5f90\u5fd7\u6469 and Rabindranath Tagore in the context of China, India, and the West and their impact on modern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EXzoF_StHIU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1319,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1319","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":4},"title":"300 Modern & Contemporary Chinese Poems","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Collections of the \"three hundred best poems\" have been popular in China ever since the Three Hundred Tang Poems \u5510\u8a69\u4e09\u767e\u9996, compiled in 1763 by Sun Zhu \u5b6b\u6d19 (a\/k\/a Hengtang Tuishi \u8861\u5858\u9000\u58eb, \"the Retiree from Hengtang\"), and that anthology was probably riffing off the Shijing \u8a69\u7d93 (The Classic of Poetry), whose\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":580,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=580","url_meta":{"origin":2396,"position":5},"title":"Xi Chuan on Tagore and Modern Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of the recently-concluded India-China Writers Dialogues, here's a re-post from October 7, in the earliest days of the Notes on the Mosquito blog: I just came across the following video, a lecture by Xi Chuan in English from Spring, 2009, to the Columbia University Alumni Association in Beijing.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "India-China Writers Dialogues"","block_context":{"text":"India-China Writers Dialogues","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=282"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EXzoF_StHIU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396"}],"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=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}