{"id":4144,"date":"2018-07-09T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T01:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4144"},"modified":"2018-07-05T08:32:49","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T00:32:49","slug":"klein-on-holtons-narrative-poem-by-yang-lian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4144","title":{"rendered":"Klein on Holton’s Narrative Poem by Yang Lian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Free<\/a>My review of Narrative Poem <\/i>\u6558\u4e8b\u8bd7, by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc<\/span> and translated by Brian Holton (Bloodaxe, 2017), is out in the new issue of Translation and Literature\u00a0<\/em><\/a>(Vol. 27, issue 2).<\/p>\n

It’s paywalled but for subscribers and certain academic institutions, but here’s a paragraph free:<\/p>\n

That so much of Yang Lian\u2019s poetics \u2013 indeed, his mythopoetics \u2013 centres on the Chinese past is a particular challenge for Holton as translator. Of course, some critics from China and elsewhere have accused Yang of writing a China of and for western understanding \u2013 but why not? In any event, that it is for westerners to understand does not make it easier to translate. Holton has not shied away from providing notes to mark moments where Yang makes allusions to people and places that fall outside the expected anglophone frame of reference. Mostly, however, it is in the strength of his diction that the power of his verse lies, just as the force of Yang Lian\u2019s word choice is what makes his poetry most compelling in Chinese. The thought and emotion of Yang Lian\u2019s writing are immanent in the words he uses \u2013 and the same is true of Holton\u2019s translations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click the image above to link to the full review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My review of Narrative Poem \u6558\u4e8b\u8bd7, by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and translated by Brian Holton (Bloodaxe, 2017), is out in the new issue of Translation and Literature\u00a0(Vol. 27, issue 2). It’s paywalled but for subscribers and certain academic institutions, but … 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":[3,814],"tags":[174,1055,38,802,462,1581,269,374,359,812,21],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-14Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3116,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3116","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"position":0},"title":"Brian Holton reads forthcoming Yang Lian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/vermont-studio-center\/vsc-resident-profiles-brian-holton-november-2014 Brian Holton reads his translation of a section of the forthcoming Narrative Poem \u53d9\u4e8b\u8bd7 by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc.","rel":"","context":"In "Jade Ladder"","block_context":{"text":"Jade Ladder","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=342"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3794,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3794","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"position":1},"title":"Yang Lian PBS’s Summer Recommended Translation","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The UK's Poetry Book Society has chosen as its 2017 Summer Recommended Translation Narrative Poem \u53d9\u4e8b\u8bd7, by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and translated by Brian Holton. The PBS writes: Narrative Poem, Yang Lian\u2019s most personal work to date, is built around a series of family photographs, the first of which was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1331\/9925\/products\/Yang_Lian_Translation_Choice.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3816,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3816","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"position":2},"title":"Holton’s Yang Lian PEN Translates Award Winner","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"English PEN has announced its latest list of PEN Translates award winners, and Brian Holton's translation of Narrative Poem \u53d9\u4e8b\u8bd7 by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc (Bloodaxe) is one of the winners! Chinese is also represented in Nicky Harman's forthcoming translation of Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1331\/9925\/products\/Yang_Lian_Translation_Choice.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4573,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4573","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"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":1108,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1108","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"position":4},"title":"Bringing Chinese Poetry to the UK","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mjpLC6VSLGI from the Literary Translation Centre at the London Book Fair in April Chair David Constantine, Modern Poetry in Translation Speakers Nicky Harman, Translator W N Herbert, Newcastle University Brian Holton, Lecturer and Translator Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, Poet","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\/mjpLC6VSLGI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":920,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=920","url_meta":{"origin":4144,"position":5},"title":"Jade Ladder Arrival","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I received my copy of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry from Bloodaxe Books yesterday. Edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc, W N Herbert, Brian Holton, and Qin Xiaoyu\u00a0\u79e6\u6653\u5b87, it's brimming with Chinese poetry from the last thirty-five years, mostly translated by Holton with Lee Man-Kay \u674e\u6f2b\u742a and \/ or Herbert. Jade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Jade Ladder"","block_context":{"text":"Jade Ladder","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=342"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.word-power.co.uk\/images\/product_images\/9781852248956.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144"}],"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=4144"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4149,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions\/4149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}