{"id":3507,"date":"2016-06-01T09:30:34","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T01:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3507"},"modified":"2016-06-01T08:23:24","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T00:23:24","slug":"scotlands-national-on-brian-holton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3507","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s National on Brian Holton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Polyglot<\/a>The National <\/a>(“Scotland’s only<\/em> daily newspaper supporting independence”) has a write-up on Staunin Ma Lane<\/em>, Brian Holton’s translation into Scots of a selection of classical Chinese poetry.<\/p>\n

The originals date back as far as the eighth century and Holton, who says his Scots versions retains the emotional resonance, holds a strong respect for the material, saying: \u201cIf you step outside your own culture and start opening doors you never regret it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPre-modern China is so different. There are more books in Chinese than any other culture in the world. It is the oldest continuous culture in the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe book is an introduction to Chinese poetry in my attempt to show it can be funny and daft. It isn\u2019t all sages sitting under trees.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Born in Galashiels, Holton lived in Nigeria with his socialist parents, a former commando father who could speak French and Swahili and a Border Scots mum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holton added: \u201cI\u2019ve been pushing for Scots all my life. It\u2019s an old tongue with a long history and a big range.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI want to say to the reader, \u2018deek whit the mither tongue can dae \u2013 gin it can dae this, whit\u2019ll it no can dae?\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

The National (“Scotland’s only daily newspaper supporting independence”) has a write-up on Staunin Ma Lane, Brian Holton’s translation into Scots of a selection of classical Chinese poetry. The originals date back as far as the eighth century and Holton, who … 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":[174],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Uz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3588,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3588","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":0},"title":"Dundee Review on Holton’s Staunin Ma Lane","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Xinyi Jiang and Lindsay Macgregor at the Dundee Review of the Arts give their take on Brian Holton's Staunin Ma Lane, a collection of classical Chinese poetry translated into Scots (with English \"glosses\"). They write: The archaisms of the classical Chinese language, the multiple meanings of individual Chinese characters, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dura-dundee.org.uk\/dura\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2016\/11\/holton.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3524,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3524","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":1},"title":"Johnston on Holton’s Staunin Ma Lane","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Johnston blogs about Staunin Ma Lane, Brian Holton's translations of classical Chinese poetry: Brian Holton\u2019s passions for language and languages, for the poetic and the pawky, his musicianship which adds rhythm, melody, counterpoint and grace notes to his translations are all sweetly evident in the poems in this beautiful\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.akanos.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/staunin_ma_lane.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3344,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3344","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":2},"title":"Brian Holton: “Translator \/ Ghostwriter \/ Ghost Composer” at CUHK","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Renditions Distinguished Lecture Series on Literary Translation \"Translator \/ Ghostwriter \/ Ghost Composer\" Speaker: Brian Holton Date: 16 December 2015 (Wednesday) Time: 4:30\u20136:00 p.m. (Tea reception: 4:00\u20134:30 p.m.) Venue: LT6, Yasumoto International Academic Park (YIA), The Chinese University of Hong Kong","rel":"","context":"In "Jade Ladder"","block_context":{"text":"Jade Ladder","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=342"},"img":{"alt_text":"http:\/\/www.cuhk.edu.hk\/rct\/Images\/ad\/brian.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cuhk.edu.hk\/rct\/Images\/ad\/brian.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2525,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2525","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":3},"title":"MCLC Review of Jade Ladder","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Modern Chinese Literature & Culture has published Meng Liansu\u2019s review of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and W. N. Herbert, with Brian Holton and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87. Here\u2019s how she begins her piece: Jade Ladder is a welcome addition to the handful of anthologies of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mclc.osu.edu\/rc\/pubs\/reviews\/jadeladder.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":920,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=920","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":4},"title":"Jade Ladder Arrival","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I received my copy of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry from Bloodaxe Books yesterday. Edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, W N Herbert, Brian Holton, and Qin Xiaoyu\u00a0\u79e6\u6653\u5b87, it's brimming with Chinese poetry from the last thirty-five years, mostly translated by Holton with Lee Man-Kay \u674e\u6f2b\u742a and \/ or Herbert. Jade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Jade Ladder"","block_context":{"text":"Jade Ladder","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=342"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.word-power.co.uk\/images\/product_images\/9781852248956.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=187","url_meta":{"origin":3507,"position":5},"title":"Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just received the press release for another anthology contemporary Chinese poetry, this one edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and William Herbert (with Brian Holton and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87 as associate editors) under the title Jade Ladder. It promises to be an exciting collection, and will feature my translations of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3507"}],"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=3507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3509,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3507\/revisions\/3509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}