{"id":3592,"date":"2016-11-30T09:30:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T01:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3592"},"modified":"2016-12-09T09:16:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T01:16:37","slug":"link-on-weinbergers-19-ways-of-looking-at-wang-wei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3592","title":{"rendered":"Link on Weinberger’s 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Perry Link at the New York Review of Books<\/em> <\/a>reviews the expanded re-release of 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei<\/em>, by Eliot Weinberger. Link writes:<\/p>\n

Some of the art of classical Chinese poetry must simply be set aside as untranslatable … Weinberger knows all of this and sensibly begins his inquiry at step two\u2014after all the untranslatables have been set aside. Now the question becomes: How can one make another poem from the twenty bundles of meaning that the Chinese characters offer? Weinberger criticizes, astutely if sometimes unkindly, almost every translator he cites … Although he is critical of nearly everyone\u2019s translation in Nineteen Ways<\/em>, Weinberger wisely adopts the position that \u201cquite a few possible readings\u201d can all be \u201cequally \u2018correct.\u2019\u201d Dilemmas about translation do not have definitive right answers (although there can be unambiguously wrong ones if misreadings of the original are involved). Any translation (except machine translation, a different case) must pass through the mind of a translator, and that mind inevitably contains its own store of perceptions, memories, and values.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Link also gives a China-centered take on Weinberger’s new essay collection, The Ghosts of Birds<\/em>: “Weinberger\u2019s sensitivity to words and gift for clear thinking underlie nearly every page in Nineteen Ways<\/em>, but in The Ghosts of Birds<\/em> they spout like a geyser.”<\/p>\n

Click the image above for the (paywalled) review in full.<\/p>\n

The article is also now available on ChinaFile <\/a>for free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","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":[47,554,344],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-VW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4503,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4503","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":0},"title":"Chinese Translation of 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei in Chinese Eliot Weinberger's classic study of \"how a Chinese poem is translated,\" Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, has just been published in Chinese translation. Here's a quick write-up about it, from The World of Chinese: For American translator and writer\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\/03\/QQ\u56fe\u724720190313114026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/QQ\u56fe\u724720190313114026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/QQ\u56fe\u724720190313114026.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/QQ\u56fe\u724720190313114026.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/QQ\u56fe\u724720190313114026.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4008,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4008","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":1},"title":"Complete Review on Weinberger’s 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I missed this when it was published. M.A. Orthofer at the Complete Review has reviewed the re-release of Eliot Weinberger's 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei. Here's an excerpt: These more than two-dozen variations on the text -- and Weinberger's brief observations of what they get particularly wrong (and\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":3220,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3220","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":2},"title":"On the Mountain: Two versions of Wang Wei","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The online mag. I recently came across an old page on Hilobrow, starting with this: The Taiyi summit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nears the seat of heaven linked mountains\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 stretch to brink of sea and The Taiyi summit nears the seat of heaven; linked mountains stretch to brink of sea. Two versions 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\/hilobrow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0210-e1318777219383.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4573,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4573","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":3},"title":"Introduction to Chinese Poetry in Translation in SupChina","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"An introduction to Chinese poetry in translation: Five anthologies As part of SupChina's feature on poetry last month, translator Dave Haysom selected five books to introduce Chinese poetry in English translation: Chinese Poetic Writing\u00a0by Fran\u00e7ois Cheng (translated by Donald A. Riggs & Jerome P. Seaton), The New Directions Anthology of\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\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3753,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3753","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":4},"title":"Burton Watson Obituary in NYTimes Books Section","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times books section has published an obituary of Burton Watson, over a month after he passed away. William Grimes writes: Burton Watson, whose spare, limpid translations, with erudite introductions, opened up the world of classical Japanese and Chinese literature to generations of English-speaking readers, died on April\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2017\/05\/04\/arts\/04watson-obit\/04watson-obit-blog427.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2953,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2953","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":5},"title":"Jonathan Stalling’s translingual synesthesia of Rimbaud’s Bateau Ivre","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I raced, stained by the moon\u2019s electric \u7231 \u00a0\u65e5\u5317\u56db\u5927\uff0c \u56db\u5927\u5317\u90a3\u5927 \u516b\u7231 \u00a0\u6d4a\u820c\u5440 \u4e48 \u00a0\u9a6c\u4e4c\u4e4c\u90a3\u2019\u56db \u00a0 \u5f1f\u62c9\u4e5f\u5403\u4e1d\u5361\u00a0 fragments, timbers crazed, black sea- \u53d1\u65e5\u8a00\u8a00\u54e5\u9a6c\u4e48\u90a3\u53f0\u56db\uff0c \u53f0\u4e1d\u4e1d\u9a6c\u516b\u4e48\u513f\u56db \u00a0 \u5361\u65e5\u5317\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0\u5927\uff0c \u516b\u62c9\u8a00\u5361 \u00a0 \u56db\u5f1f horses as my escort, July\u2019s battering me\u2014 \u54c8\u591f\u65e5\u56db\u4e48\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u00a0\u8a00\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u9a6c\u7231 \u00a0 \u4e5f\u56db\u5361\u554a\u65e5\u53f0\uff0c\u624e\u4e4c\u4e4c\u62c9\u7231\u2019 \u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u00a0\u516b\u8a00\u53f0\u4e48\u513f\u51b0 \u00a0 \u9a6c\u5f1f\u2014 So begins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592"}],"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=3592"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3600,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions\/3600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}