{"id":2556,"date":"2014-04-22T09:30:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T01:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2556"},"modified":"2014-04-15T22:19:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T14:19:54","slug":"nicky-harman-interviews-han-dong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2556","title":{"rendered":"Nicky Harman Interviews Han Dong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HanPeony Moon<\/a> has published an interview with Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c as conducted by his translator Nicky Harman. Here’s a teaser:<\/p>\n

NH:<\/strong> You famously said that, \u201cpoetry does not go beyond language\u201d (\u201c\u8bd7\u5230\u8bed\u8a00\u4e3a\u6b62\u201c). Do you still believe that? If not, what do you think are the most important principles of poetry?<\/p>\n

HD:<\/strong> When I said that, it was to counter the prevailing view (in China) that \u201cthe written word must express a moral view\u201d, and to emphasize the importance of language in poetry. But ultimately this was just another creed and, to that extent, one-sided. I understand poetry in a more rounded way now, not just as in opposition to something else. Poetry is an absolute, or at least an indication of an absolute. Analysing poetry is of limited use. Poetry doesn\u2019t exist in the abstract, only in specific poems, in the writings of a particular poet, and we shouldn\u2019t try to over-explain it. I dream of being able to write poems which need little or no explaining, and can be understood intuitively. Readers don\u2019t need training but poets do, and that training ought to include how to stir people\u2019s hearts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click on the image above for the full interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peony Moon has published an interview with Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c as conducted by his translator Nicky Harman. Here’s a teaser: NH: You famously said that, \u201cpoetry does not go beyond language\u201d (\u201c\u8bd7\u5230\u8bed\u8a00\u4e3a\u6b62\u201c). Do you still believe that? If not, what … 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":[135,399],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Fe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3211,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3211","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":0},"title":"Nicky Harman featured in China Daily","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"China Daily Europe has a feature on literary translation from Chinese to English, focusing in particular on Nicky Harman, translator of poet Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c and others. Harman, who specializes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry, began learning Chinese in 1968 and previously taught translation at Imperial College London. \"At the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/europe.chinadaily.com.cn\/epaper\/images\/attachement\/jpg\/site241\/20150522\/f04da2db112216c8c8412c.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3498,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3498","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":1},"title":"Eberlein on Han Dong in English","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Xujun Eberlein in LARB looks at Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c in English and asks, \"Is There a Good Way to Translate Chinese Poetry?\" Her answer is clearly yes. She asks, \"why would I want to read a translation that has departed from the original? Wouldn\u2019t I be better off reading original\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lareviewofbooks-org.scdn3.secure.raxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/handong-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2613,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2613","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":2},"title":"Review of Han Dong’s A Phone Call from Dalian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Modern Chinese Literature & Culture list has posted my review of A Phone Call from Dalian \u6765\u81ea\u5927\u8fde\u7684\u7535\u8bdd (Zephyr Press), by Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c, edited by Nicky Harman. Here's a passage from the middle where I make a point about how having too many anthologies of contemporary Chinese poetry in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mclc.osu.edu\/rc\/pubs\/reviews\/handong2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2948,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2948","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":3},"title":"Asian Cha reviews Han Dong & Lan Lan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lu Jin at Cha reviews A Phone Call from Dalian \u6765\u81ea\u5927\u8fde\u7684\u7535\u8bdd, by Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c as edited and translated by Nicky Harman, and Canyon in the Body \u8eab\u4f53\u91cc\u7684\u5ce1\u8c37, by Lan Lan \u84dd\u84dd as translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain. While Han Dong's poetry is manly, controlled and ironic, Lan Lan's work is\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":879,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=879","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":4},"title":"Words Without Borders on the London Book Fair & Contemporary Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Words Without Borders was reporting on location from the London Book Fair, and their report from Day 3 is full of excitement about Chinese poetry in English and the newly published Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, which includes my translations of some of Xi Chuan's work. Here's the\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":191,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=191","url_meta":{"origin":2556,"position":5},"title":"My Life as a Translator","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"For all of us who were unable to attend the event at the British Centre for Literary Translation, here's a video part of its proceedings. My favorite part was the description Nicky Harman--whose translations of poetry by Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c are forthcoming from Zephyr Press as A Phone Call from\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\/q3Y-9eT6Cuc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556"}],"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=2556"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2558,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556\/revisions\/2558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}