{"id":3472,"date":"2016-04-13T09:30:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T01:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3472"},"modified":"2016-04-12T22:44:20","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T14:44:20","slug":"owens-du-fu-in-the-harvard-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3472","title":{"rendered":"Owen’s Du Fu in the Harvard Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Harvard Gazette<\/a> has run a write-up promoting \"Stephen<\/a>Stephen Owen’s complete Poetry of Du Fu<\/em>: “A monumental undertaking\u00a0(the prolific\u00a0Du Fu\u00a0left 1,400\u00a0extant poems), Owen spent nearly a decade working on the translation, which resulted in a 3,000-page,\u00a0six-volume book that weighs in at nine pounds.”<\/p>\n

Along with recordings of Owen reading some of this translations, the article also quotes Owen’s appreciation of the poet:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a quirky\u00a0poet. When he moves\u00a0to\u00a0Chengdu\u00a0with his family, he has to set up house and writes\u00a0a poem\u00a0to people\u00a0asking for fruit trees and crockery.\u00a0No one had ever done this kind of\u00a0poem. He has\u00a0a\u00a0poem\u00a0praising his bondservant\u00a0Xinxing\u00a0for repairing a water-piping system in his house … He\u2019s\u00a0forgotten\u00a0what you can and can\u2019t do in poetry,\u00a0and\u00a030 years later poets looked back and said, \u2018This is the greatest poet we have,\u2019\u201d Owen said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a recording of Owen reading his translation of “Having Been Thrown From My Horse While Drunk<\/span>“:<\/p>\n