{"id":2616,"date":"2014-05-15T09:30:41","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T01:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2616"},"modified":"2014-05-11T23:24:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-11T15:24:53","slug":"not-altogether-an-illusion-lucas-klein-on-burton-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2616","title":{"rendered":"Not Altogether an Illusion: Lucas Klein on Burton Watson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Illustration<\/em><\/a>As part of a Translation & World Literature <\/a>feature, World Literature Today<\/em> has published my short article “Not Altogether an Illusion<\/a>: Translation and Translucence in the Work of Burton Watson.” Here’s an excerpt:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Since Chinese poetry started being translated into English, poets and sinologists have presented poetry and sinology as if they were locked in eternal conflict. In 1921 Amy Lowell said, \u201cChinese is so difficult that it is a life-work in itself; so is the study of poetry. A Sinologue has no time to learn how to write poetry; a poet has no time to learn how to read Chinese\u201d; in 1958 George Kennedy said of Ezra Pound, \u201cUndoubtedly this is fine poetry. Undoubtedly it is bad translation\u201d; drawing a distinction between the \u201cpoet-translator\u201d and \u201ccritic-translator,\u201d James J. Y. Liu wrote in 1982 that while the latter\u2019s \u201cprimary aim is to show what the original poem is like, as a part of his interpretation,\u201d the former \u201cis a poet or poet manqu\u00e9 whose native Muse is temporarily or permanently absent and who uses translation as a way to recharge his own creative battery [and] write a good poem in English based on his understanding or misunderstanding of a Chinese poem, however he may have arrived at this\u201d; and in 2004, against those who \u201cbelieve that translations should consist of word-for-word cribs in which syntax, grammar, and form are all maintained, and in which the translator is merely a facilitator who allows the original poem to speak for itself in a new language,\u201d Tony Barnstone posited that the \u201cliterary translator is like the musician who catalyzes the otherwise inert score that embodies Mozart\u2019s genius. . . . Fidelity<\/em>, true fidelity, comes from a musician\u2019s deeper understanding of the music.\u201d The genius of Watson\u2019s translations is that they reconcile the rift between poetry and scholarship.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

As part of a Translation & World Literature feature, World Literature Today has published my short article “Not Altogether an Illusion: Translation and Translucence in the Work of Burton Watson.” Here’s an excerpt: Since Chinese poetry started being translated into … 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":[37,436,38,1397,1398,433],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Gc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3660,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3660","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":0},"title":"Burton Watson, 1925 – 2017","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Burton Watson, the greatest translator of premodern poetry and prose from Chinese and Japanese, passed away on the evening of April 1, 2017, at Hatsutomi Hospital in Kamagata City, Chiba, Japan. He was 91. I have so far been unable to find an obituary. I am reposting \"Not Altogether an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/A41A6373-2-758x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3144,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3144","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":1},"title":"Burton Watson Named PEN\/Ralph Manheim Medalist for Lifetime Achievement in Translation","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It is with great pleasure that PEN America announces today that the 2015 PEN\/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation will be awarded to scholar and translator of Chinese and Japanese literature\u00a0Burton Watson. One of PEN\u2019s most prestigious lifetime achievement awards, the medal is given every three years to a translator whose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/A41A6373-2-758x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3753,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3753","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":2},"title":"Burton Watson Obituary in NYTimes Books Section","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times books section has published an obituary of Burton Watson, over a month after he passed away. William Grimes writes: Burton Watson, whose spare, limpid translations, with erudite introductions, opened up the world of classical Japanese and Chinese literature to generations of English-speaking readers, died on April\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2017\/05\/04\/arts\/04watson-obit\/04watson-obit-blog427.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3671,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3671","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":3},"title":"John Bradley on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson\u2019s passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following remembrance is by John Bradley, from his review of Salutations; a Festschrift for Burton Watson (Ahadada \/ Ekleksographia, 2015), originally published in Rain Taxi #81\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3712,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3712","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":4},"title":"Columbia UP’s Jennifer Crewe on Burton Watson","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Columbia University Press blog, associate provost and press director Jennifer Crewe, has published her remembrance in honor of Burton Watson, with whose \"passing the world has lost one of its greatest translators.\" She writes: I once heard a story, perhaps apocryphal, told to me by someone who visited\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3678,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3678","url_meta":{"origin":2616,"position":5},"title":"Jonathan Chaves on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson\u2019s passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following remembrance is from Jonathan Chaves, professor of Chinese at George Washington University: I am deeply saddened by the death of Burton Watson. He has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616"}],"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=2616"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}