{"id":3660,"date":"2017-04-03T09:30:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T01:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2017-04-03T00:41:59","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T16:41:59","slug":"burton-watson-1925-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3660","title":{"rendered":"Burton Watson, 1925 – 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/A41A6373-2.jpg?resize=229%2C307&ssl=1\"<\/a>Burton Watson, the greatest translator of premodern poetry and prose from Chinese and Japanese, passed away on the evening of April 1, 2017, at Hatsutomi Hospital in Kamagata City, Chiba, Japan<\/span>. He was 91.<\/p>\n

I have so far been unable to find an obituary. I am reposting “Not Altogether an Illusion: Translation and Translucence in the Work of Burton Watson<\/a>,” which I wrote for World Literature Today<\/em>, published in May of 2014.<\/p>\n

Ascent and grounding describe as well Watson\u2019s reconciliation of the scholarly and poetic demands of translation: the solidity of his knowledge of classical Chinese finds expression in an English that calls attention to itself primarily in how it barely calls attention to itself. It is an extension of the overall architecture of the regulated verse form, down to the \u201csuccession of highly disciplined maneuvers\u201d that define the antithetical parallelism of their middle couplets at their best. Where others have presented poetry and translation as forever at odds, Watson\u2019s work sees this conflict as its own static tableau and reduces it to a productive part of his own translational poetics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Burton Watson, the greatest translator of premodern poetry and prose from Chinese and Japanese, passed away on the evening of April 1, 2017, at Hatsutomi Hospital in Kamagata City, Chiba, Japan. He was 91. I have so far been unable … 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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[436],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-X2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3678,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3678","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":0},"title":"Jonathan Chaves on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson\u2019s passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following remembrance is from Jonathan Chaves, professor of Chinese at George Washington University: I am deeply saddened by the death of Burton Watson. He has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3671,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3671","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":1},"title":"John Bradley on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson\u2019s passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following remembrance is by John Bradley, from his review of Salutations; a Festschrift for Burton Watson (Ahadada \/ Ekleksographia, 2015), originally published in Rain Taxi #81\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3665,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3665","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":2},"title":"Victor Mair on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson's passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following remembrance is from Victor Mair, professor of Chinese at University of Pennsylvania: Sometime around the mid-70s, I had the great, good fortune to be invited\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3084,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3084","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":3},"title":"Burton Watson reading Lu You","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7swF2yoAZSg Burton Watson reading his translations of the poetry of Lu You\u00a0\u9678\u6e38 (1125\u20131209), from poetryvlog.","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/7swF2yoAZSg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3676,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3676","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":4},"title":"Sam Hamill on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Burton Watson\u2019s passing, I am collecting statements and memories from friends and fans, to be posted as they come in. The following poem is by Sam Hamill, his entry in Salutations; a Festschrift for Burton Watson (Ahadada \/ Ekleksographia, 2015): Salutation to Burton Watson So very much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Burton Watson remembrance"","block_context":{"text":"Burton Watson remembrance","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=1774"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3716,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3716","url_meta":{"origin":3660,"position":5},"title":"Burton Watson NYTimes Obituary","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times has finally published an obituary of Burton Watson. It reads: Burton Dewitt Watson, scholar and translator of Chinese and Japanese literature, died on April 1, 2017, in Japan at the age of 92. As winner of the PEN\/Ralph Manheim Medal in 2015, Dr. Watson was regarded\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\/ak-cache.legacy.net\/legacy\/images\/Cobrands\/nytimes\/Photos\/185122853.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660"}],"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=3660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3664,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}