{"id":3201,"date":"2015-06-12T09:30:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T01:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3201"},"modified":"2015-06-09T10:21:24","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T02:21:24","slug":"josh-billings-on-arthur-waley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3201","title":{"rendered":"Josh Billings on Arthur Waley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As part of a series called “Lives of the Translators,” Asymptote<\/em> has published Josh Billings’s essay “I Have Changed Nothing: Seven Paradoxes in Pursuit of Arthur Waley<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Reading his short article on dreaming in Eastern literature (\u201cSome Far Eastern Dreams\u201d), it is difficult not to think about translation\u2014this despite the fact that, at no point in the article does Waley himself make this connection. If anything, one of the most mysterious parts of \u201cSome Far Eastern Dreams\u201d is how persistently it refrains from the elaboration that comes so naturally to people when they talk about dreams. Like a scholar in a Borges story, Waley speaks with rigorously lowered eyebrows, uttering sentences that, taken seriously, would blast holes in most peoples\u2019 views of how reality works. Some of these sentences sound like they have been taken from an instruction manual for an alien board game. \u201cDreams can be bought and sold, or stolen.\u201d \u201cAnyone who hears a dream and has a good enough memory to repeat it word for word can rob the dreamer of its benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The more we read, the more we get the sense that what Waley is really talking about here is his own work<\/em>, and the dreamlike knack it has for opening questions that we thought had been settled.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

As part of a series called “Lives of the Translators,” Asymptote has published Josh Billings’s essay “I Have Changed Nothing: Seven Paradoxes in Pursuit of Arthur Waley.” Reading his short article on dreaming in Eastern literature (\u201cSome Far Eastern Dreams\u201d), … 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":[603,816,1615],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-PD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2987,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2987","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":0},"title":"Han-shan and the Cult of Translation","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Poetry Matters blog has run an article titled \"Han-shan and the Cult of Translation,\" reading the various translations by Red Pine (Bill Porter), J P Seaton, Gary Snyder, Arthur Waley, and Burton Watson of a poem by medieval recluse poet(s) Cold Mountain \/ Han-shan \u5bd2\u5c71. The poem in question\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":2890,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2890","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":1},"title":"Hamill’s Crossing the Yellow River Reviewed","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John Bradley has reviewed Sam Hamill's Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese (Tiger Bark Press) at Rain Taxi. He writes: What is about Chinese poetry, especially the poetry of the T\u2019ang Dynasty (618-907 CE), that has drawn so many translators over the years, such as Ezra\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":1024,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1024","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":2},"title":"Sean O’Brien reviews Jade Ladder","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Guardian has published Sean O'Brien's review of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, W N Herbert, Brian Holton, and Qin Xiaoyu\u00a0\u79e6\u6653\u5b87. It's a fine and enthusiastic take written by an obviously engaged reader conversant with the current goings-on of poetry worldwide. Here's how it begins:\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":3678,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3678","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":3424,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3424","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":4},"title":"Weinberger on Hinton’s and Minford’s versions of the I Ching","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Eliot Weinberger writes about two new translations of the I Ching (Yijing) \u6613\u7d93 in the NYRB: The two latest translations of the\u00a0I Ching\u00a0couldn\u2019t be more unalike; they are a complementary\u00a0yin\u00a0and\u00a0yang\u00a0of approaches. John Minford is a scholar best known for his work on the magnificent five-volume translation of\u00a0The Story of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/weinberger_1-022516.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3569,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3569","url_meta":{"origin":3201,"position":5},"title":"Mazanec on Rouzer’s Hanshan Translations","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Tom Mazanec has posted about Paul Rouzer's new translation of Hanshan \u5bd2\u5c71 (Cold Mountain) for de Gruyter's Library of Chinese Humanities--now available for sale and free download. 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