{"id":3934,"date":"2017-11-27T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T01:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3934"},"modified":"2017-11-18T14:52:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T06:52:52","slug":"goodman-on-great-romantic-of-chinese-poetry-xu-zhimo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3934","title":{"rendered":"Goodman on “Great Romantic” of Chinese poetry, Xu Zhimo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/supchina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Xu-Zhimo.jpg?resize=508%2C259\"<\/a>Is Xu Zhimo \u5f90\u5fd7\u6469 (1897 – <\/span>1931<\/span>) unknown outside China? In advance of an event at New York’s Renwen Society at the China Institute (now passed) in honor of Xu’s 120th birthday–which was “conducted in Chinese, with no interpretation<\/strong>“–Eleanor Goodman considered for SupChina<\/em><\/a>\u00a0whether that should be the case.<\/p>\n

She writes:<\/p>\n

His most famous poem, \u201cAnother Farewell to Cambridge\u201d (\u518d\u522b\u5eb7\u6865<\/em> Z\u00e0ibi\u00e9 K\u0101ngqi\u00e1o, commonly translated as \u201cSaying Goodbye to Cambridge Again,\u201d though there are many translations for this title) is a paean to the River Cam in Cambridge, where he spent a year at King\u2019s College. It begins (translation mine):<\/p>\n

Quietly I go,
\nAs quietly as I came;
\nQuietly I wave
\nfarewell to the western clouds.<\/p>\n

The golden willow by the banks
\nis the bride of the setting sun.
\nReflections shimmer on the water
\nand ripple through my mind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

and continues,<\/p>\n

In the poem \u201cBy Chance\u201d (\u5076\u7136<\/em> \u01d1ur\u00e1n) he writes (my translation again):<\/p>\n

I am a cloud in the sky,
\nthat shadows your stirred heart by chance.
\nNo need for you to feel surprise,
\nstill less to be delighted,
\nin a flash, every trace of me will be gone.<\/p>\n

So it seems. Xu wrote what he lived, and lived what he wrote. To be reminded by these poems of Keats or of Shelley (\u201cI bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,\u00a0\/ From the seas and the streams;\u00a0\/ I bear light shade for the leaves when laid\u00a0\/ In their noonday dreams\u201d) is right on target. These Western poets were a direct influence on the Crescent Moon Society, and their Romanticism \u2014 a reliance on natural images, gestures toward the sublime, an emphasis on individual sensual experience \u2014 became the main model for this innovative group of Chinese poets, Xu primary among them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Goodman is right, of course, about Xu’s significance to modern Chinese literary history, but I admit I’ve never grieved over his being unknown in English–until now, that is. Reading these fragments of Goodman’s translations, I’m almost ready to change my mind.<\/p>\n

Click on the image above to read the piece in full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Xu Zhimo \u5f90\u5fd7\u6469 (1897 – 1931) unknown outside China? In advance of an event at New York’s Renwen Society at the China Institute (now passed) in honor of Xu’s 120th birthday–which was “conducted in Chinese, with no interpretation“–Eleanor Goodman … 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":[3,1],"tags":[388,1365,1946,35],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-11s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3537,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3537","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":0},"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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