{"id":3644,"date":"2017-02-27T09:30:51","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T01:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3644"},"modified":"2017-02-26T17:43:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T09:43:01","slug":"van-crevel-on-chinese-migrant-worker-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3644","title":{"rendered":"van Crevel on Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>At Modern Chinese Literature & Culture<\/em> <\/a>Maghiel van Crevel reviews Iron Moon <\/em>the film (directed by Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87<\/span> and Wu Feiyue \u5434\u98de\u8dc3) and the anthology (edited by Qin Xiaoyu, translated by Eleanor Goodman).<\/p>\n

The review begins:<\/p>\n

Poetry is the most ubiquitous of literary genres. It is written and recited and read and heard for families and festivals, in love and on stage, in prayers and protests, at imperial courts and in factories. In China,\u00a0associations of poetry and factories, and of poetry and manual labor at large, are anything but far-fetched. One recalls the story of poetry production, which is really the only right word here, being whipped up to keep up with steel production during the Great Leap Forward (quite aside from the results in terms of quality, for poetry or for steel). And less frenetic, more sustainable instances of the linkage of poetry and labor throughout the Mao era, with factories \u2013 and drilling rigs, construction sites, and so on \u2013 generally depicted as good places. But today, poetry + factories + China conjure up a different picture. One thinks not of the proletariat but of the precariat, and not of glory but of misery.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And on the translation and the poetry, he writes:<\/p>\n

Goodman is to be commended for the many places in which she handles the particulars of migrant worker poetry astutely in terms of style. If we allow for some generalization, this poetry tends to be less polished \u2013 to cite a clich\u00e9 that may fit the present context better than most \u2013 than professional writing. It is, for instance, often unsteady or unbalanced in terms of register and tone, line length, rhythm, and so on. This raises the old question of whether the translator is at liberty to \u201cimprove the original,\u201d and of what determines whether the changes they make are improvements. Beyond textual and linguistic issues, this question often involves reflection on cultural difference and, sometimes, more directly political considerations of what one wants the translation to be and do \u2013 with migrant worker poetry, prison writing, and so on as cases in point. On the whole, in this respect, Goodman\u2019s engagement with the texts is highly effective, especially because she knows when to honor the literal, and when to shun it. For the great majority of the poems, she treads a fine line between respecting the original and ensuring that the translations read well, maximizing the chance that the reader will stay tuned and get the message. In all, the poetry in Iron Moon <\/em>remains true to life in translation, so to speak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the full write-up, click the image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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":[388,309,165,1752,1485],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-WM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3578,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3578","url_meta":{"origin":3644,"position":0},"title":"NYTimes Reviews Iron Moon Chinese Worker Poetry Documentary","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Andy Webster at the New York Times has published a brief review of Iron Moon \u6211\u7684\u8bd7\u7bc7, a documentary on poetry-writing industrial workers in southern China, directed by Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87 and Wu Feiyue \u5434\u98de\u8dc3. Webster writes\uff1a With arresting images, \u201cIron Moon\u201d powerfully addresses China\u2019s moral crisis in the wake of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/90\/Iron_Moon.jpg\/220px-Iron_Moon.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3864,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3864","url_meta":{"origin":3644,"position":1},"title":"Foster on Qin & Goodman’s Iron Moon","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Kate Hanson Foster reviews Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry, edited by Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87 and translated by Eleanor Goodman, for The Somerville Times. Foster writes: The translations by Eleanor Goodman are an impeccable achievement of negotiating two linguistic landscapes. 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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":3537,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3537","url_meta":{"origin":3644,"position":3},"title":"Bai Meigui Chinese Poetry Translation Competition","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The University of Leeds is hosting its third Bai Meigui Translation Competition, with poems--by Chi Lingyun \u6c60\u51cc\u4e91, Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87, and Xu Xiangchou \u5f90\u4e61\u6101--chosen by judges Eleanor Goodman, Heather Inwood, and Canaan Morse. 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