{"id":3185,"date":"2015-05-20T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T01:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3185"},"modified":"2015-05-16T22:27:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T14:27:06","slug":"nytimes-interviews-willis-barnstone-on-chinese-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3185","title":{"rendered":"NYTimes Interviews Willis Barnstone on Chinese Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>The New York Times<\/em> features an interview <\/a>with poet and translator Willis Barnstone about his translations of Chinese poetry and his time in China. Here’s an excerpt:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

I\u2019ve always been interested in poetry, and I make no distinction of language or time. I\u2019ve translated Sappho and, with the help of a professor at Yale, Sumerian poetry. But I was equally interested in Chinese poetry … I asked people who were the great contemporary poets, and they said none. It turns out that Mao was the only poet. The only permitted poet!
\n… So I translated it with the help of a colleague. I sent it in and received a letter saying, \u201cWe\u2019re glad to have it and will get back to you.\u201d It sat there for nine months until word came out that Nixon was going to China. In 11 pre-computer days, Harper & Row put it out in a magnificent edition. It became Book-of-the-Month, a New York Times feature review, the whole works.
\nThen Nixon did fly to Beijing for a summit with Mao, Zhou and Henry Kissinger. Nixon recited two of Mao\u2019s poems in my translation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He also talks about Wang Wei \u738b\u7dad and meeting young poets (including Xi Chuan) with his son Tony at the Friendship Hotel in 1984.<\/p>\n

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

The New York Times features an interview with poet and translator Willis Barnstone about his translations of Chinese poetry and his time in China. Here’s an excerpt: I\u2019ve always been interested in poetry, and I make no distinction of language … 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":[3,7],"tags":[1608,552,433,344,1606,1654,1607],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Pn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":800,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=800","url_meta":{"origin":3185,"position":0},"title":"Ocean of Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I just found out about Ocean of Poetry, a new website featuring all sorts of information and examples of classical Chinese poetry in English translation, edited by Stuart Carduner and translator J. P. Seaton. The translation of classical Chinese poetry over the past century has contributed to the development of\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":2616,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2616","url_meta":{"origin":3185,"position":1},"title":"Not Altogether an Illusion: Lucas Klein on Burton Watson","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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 English, poets and sinologists have presented poetry and sinology as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.worldliteraturetoday.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2014\/May\/klein_watson_illustration.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2020,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2020","url_meta":{"origin":3185,"position":2},"title":"New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry Edited by Ming Di \u00a0 The most up-to-date anthology of contemporary Chinese poetry, translated by American poets and edited by the executive editor of the bilingual literary journal Poetry East West. 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Here's an excerpt from the second part of the article: During the poetry\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":109,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=109","url_meta":{"origin":3185,"position":5},"title":"Xi Chuan Interview","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The inimitable Paul Nelson met Xi Chuan when they both attended the Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival \u9752\u6d77\u6e56\u56fd\u9645\u8bd7\u6b4c\u8282 last August. After Xi Chuan's Copper Canyon reading in Seattle, Paul met with Xi Chuan for an interview, part one of which has just been posted on splab.org. 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