{"id":3720,"date":"2017-05-03T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3720"},"modified":"2017-04-23T16:03:24","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T08:03:24","slug":"victor-mair-again-on-burton-watson-1925-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3720","title":{"rendered":"Victor Mair again on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On his own page at Language Log<\/a>, Victor Mair has added to his earlier remembrance of Burton Watson:<\/em><\/p>\n

Many of Watson’s works appeared under the under the imprint of Columbia University Press (CUP), and I have also had a long association with CUP. Our scholarly paths crossed again in the early 90s when Jennifer Crewe, my editor at Columbia, asked me to take a look at Watson’s translation of the Lotus Sutra<\/a>, which she hoped to publish. Much as I admired Watson’s translations, I said to Jennifer, “Why would you want to do that? You already have Leon Hurvitz’s great translation of the Lotus. Why would you want to have two competing translations on your list?”<\/em><\/p>\n

I was referring to the <\/em>Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma<\/a>, which had been published in 1976, and which I consider to be a work of genius. In it, Hurvitz (who was one of my teachers) had worked out a method whereby the reader could tell at a glance whether a given Buddhist term in Chinese had been translated or transcribed from the corresponding term in Sanskrit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jennifer confided in me, “But people can’t read<\/b> the Hurvitz translation. You know what I mean, Victor. It’s only for specialists. I want a version of the Lotus that anyone can pick up and read.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So I agreed to evaluate Watson’s manuscript, and I could see at once how vastly different and more accessible it was than Hurvitz’s. CUP went on to publish Watson’s translation<\/a> and it has been a big success. Happily, both the Hurvitz Lotus and the Watson <\/em>Lotus are both in print, each meeting the needs of a different readership: Hurvitz for the Indologists, Sinologists, and Buddhologists, and Watson for the literarily minded and anyone with an interest in Asian religions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just a word about Watson’s style: spare, yet elegant. Reading a translation by Burton Watson is like contemplating the creation of a master Scandinavian designer: the lines are clean, neat, and beautiful. He kept the blooming<\/a> to a minimum.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click on the link above for the full entry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On his own page at Language Log, Victor Mair has added to his earlier remembrance of Burton Watson: Many of Watson’s works appeared under the under the imprint of Columbia University Press (CUP), and I have also had a long … 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":[1774,3],"tags":[436,1821,1830,454],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Y0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3671,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3671","url_meta":{"origin":3720,"position":0},"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":3712,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3712","url_meta":{"origin":3720,"position":1},"title":"Columbia UP’s Jennifer Crewe on Burton Watson","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Columbia University Press blog, associate provost and press director Jennifer Crewe, has published her remembrance in honor of Burton Watson, with whose \"passing the world has lost one of its greatest translators.\" She writes: I once heard a story, perhaps apocryphal, told to me by someone who visited\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":3720,"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":3256,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3256","url_meta":{"origin":3720,"position":3},"title":"Salutations; a Festschrift for Burton Watson","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcing, from\u00a0Ahadada \/ Ekleksographia, Salutations; a Festschrift for Burton Watson. Edited by Jesse Glass and Philip Williams, this collection of essays, articles, and poems about Chinese and Japanese literature and culture celebrates the illustrious scholarly career of Burton Watson, whose range of excellent literary translations into English from Japanese 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":3698,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3698","url_meta":{"origin":3720,"position":4},"title":"Chloe Garcia Roberts on Burton Watson (1925 \u2013 2017)","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 18, 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 comment is from poet and translator Chloe Garcia Roberts: Burton Watson\u2019s translations were the weft of my education. His voice spanning the entirety of my\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":3678,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3678","url_meta":{"origin":3720,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720"}],"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=3720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3742,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions\/3742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}