{"id":3498,"date":"2016-05-23T09:30:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T01:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3498"},"modified":"2016-05-23T09:58:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T01:58:54","slug":"eberlein-on-han-dong-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3498","title":{"rendered":"Eberlein on Han Dong in English"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/a>Xujun Eberlein in LARB<\/em> looks at Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c in English and asks, “Is There a Good Way to Translate Chinese Poetry?<\/a>“<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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 poetry in the target language, instead of a half-baked translation?”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She looks at Han as presented in two translations, one the recent Phone Call from Dalian<\/em> with translations by Nicky Harman and Maghiel van Crevel, and the other the anthology Another Kind of Nation<\/em>. Eberlein writes:<\/p>\n

Why do we read translated poetry after all? If specific manners of expression and thinking, different uses of words and images, serve as the carrier of a different culture and reality, the stuff that draws in the translator and reader alike, what can translation accomplish? For poetry, language\u2014the nuance of language\u2014is paramount. We care not only about a poem\u2019s meaning; we care equally, if not more, about how thoughts and observations are expressed in unfamiliar, refreshing ways. Form is part of content in poetry translation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click the image above for the full article, and for my own takes, see my reviews of A Phone Call from Dalian<\/em> <\/a>and Another Kind of Nation<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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":[135,309,399,1716],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Uq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4693,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4693","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":0},"title":"Announcing publication of Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs We are pleased to announce publication of\u00a0Chinese Poetry\u00a0and Translation: Rights and Wrongs\u00a0(Amsterdam University\u00a0Press, 2019). Open access download\u00a0here.\u00a0Order print copies\u00a0here. CHINESE POETRY AND TRANSLATION: RIGHTS AND WRONGS \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0edited by\u00a0Maghiel van Crevel and Lucas Klein Introduction: The Weird Third\u00a0Thing \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Maghiel\u00a0van Crevel and Lucas\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\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9789462989948_prom-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3644,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3644","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":1},"title":"van Crevel on Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"At Modern Chinese Literature & Culture Maghiel van Crevel reviews Iron Moon the film (directed by Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87 and Wu Feiyue \u5434\u98de\u8dc3) and the anthology (edited by Qin Xiaoyu, translated by Eleanor Goodman). The review begins: Poetry is the most ubiquitous of literary genres. It is written and recited\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/u.osu.edu\/mclc\/files\/2017\/02\/51FjYtBrYfL._SX334_BO1204203200_-1olpc4c-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4639,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4639","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":2},"title":"Chinese Literature Today free for Women in Translation Month","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Chinese Literature Today, free for Women in Translation month The current issue of Chinese Literature Today is free throughout August for Women in Translation month. The main feature of the issue is of Newman Prize Laureate, the Hong Kong writer Xi Xi \u897f\u897f, with introductions, appreciations, interviews, and new translations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image result for chinese literature today","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/cover-img\/10.1080\/uclt20.v008.i01?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3211,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3211","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":3},"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":2948,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2948","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":4},"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":4877,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4877","url_meta":{"origin":3498,"position":5},"title":"Madeleine Thien on Chinese Translation and “Poems Without an \u2018I\u2019”","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018\"Poems Without an \u2018I,\u2019\" Madeleine Thien on Li Bai and Du Fu in Ha Jin and David Hinton The new issue of the New York Review of Books features \"Poems Without an \u2018I,\u2019\" Madeleine Thien's review of three books, The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai [\u674e\u767d] (Pantheon, 2019)\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\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thien_2-100820.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498"}],"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=3498"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3505,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498\/revisions\/3505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}