{"id":788,"date":"2012-03-12T13:35:49","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T05:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=788"},"modified":"2012-03-12T13:43:25","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T05:43:25","slug":"poetry-translation-debated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=788","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Translation Debated"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a poet outside the Anglophone world, and you manage to win the Nobel Prize, two things are likely to happen. First, your ascendancy will be questioned by fiction critics in a major English-\u00adlanguage news publication. Second, there will be a fair amount of pushing and shoving among your translators (if you have any), as publishers attempt to capitalize on your 15 minutes of free media attention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So begins David Orr<\/a>‘s essay “Versions<\/a>,” about the translations of last year’s Nobel laureate for literature Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer. Maybe one day in the future Xi Chuan will win the Nobel prize, and we’ll be able to test this hypothesis (or test it with the last two Nobel Prize-winning poets from outside English, Wis\u0142awa Szymborska<\/a> [1996] and Octavio Paz <\/a>[1990]); at any event, the article gives an interesting take on a worthwhile debate. I’ll come down on the side of Robin Fulton<\/a> in this debate–not just that we share a publisher, but that I believe New Directions<\/a> to have picked the right translator for the task.<\/p>\n

[Fulton has also published a book of translations of the Norwegian poet Olav Hauge<\/a>, whom Xi Chuan has also co-translated into Chinese; for a discussion of Xi Chuan’s translations, click here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a poet outside the Anglophone world, and you manage to win the Nobel Prize, two things are likely to happen. First, your ascendancy will be questioned by fiction critics in a major English-\u00adlanguage news publication. Second, there will … 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":[3,16,1,7],"tags":[425,44,49,171,427,258,426,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-cI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":597,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=597","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":0},"title":"\u8bd7\u4e1c\u897f Poetry East West","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A new double issue of the Beijing \/ LA-based literary journal Poetry East West \u8bd7\u4e1c\u897f is out, featuring poems by Xi Chuan in my translation and a grand host of other poets translated into & out of Chinese, from Diana Shi and George O'Connell's Yu Jian \u4e8e\u575a to Charles Laughlin's\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":1797,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1797","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":1},"title":"‘Lights Have Entered Us’: Jeffrey Yang on Time of Grief","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"New Directions editor Jeffrey Yang has a piece at The Atlantic about George Oppen & Time of Grief: Mourning Poems, an assemblage of international poetry he recently edited. Here's how Atlantic writer Joe Fassler describes the book: The new poetry anthology Time of Grief: Mourning Poems is an unusual, inventive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ndbooks.com\/images\/made\/images\/covers\/Time_of_Grief_300_450.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2487,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2487","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":2},"title":"Johannes G\u00f6ransson on Aase Berg \/ Ye Mimi \/ Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer \/ Translation Studies","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at Montevidayo,\u00a0Johannes G\u00f6ransson has posted \"Exploded Transtr\u00f6mer: On Ye Mimi and Translation.\" A hyperopticon of connections, it links Taiwanese poet Ye Mimi \u8449\u8993\u8993 to Nobel lit. prizewinner Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer via what Swedish poet Aase Berg's reading: A few months ago, after she came back from the Hong Kong poetry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Poetry Nights"","block_context":{"text":"International Poetry Nights","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.montevidayo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/5_Ye_Mimi_photo-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4472,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4472","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":3},"title":"Xi Chuan wins Sweden’s Cikada Prize","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cikada Prize 2018 is awarded to the Chinese poet Xi Chuan! Founded in 2004 to commemorate the 100th birthday of Swedish poet and Nobel laureate Harry Martinson, the Cikada Prize is given to East Asian poets whose work \u201cdefend the inviolability of life.\u201d They write: This year\u2019s winner is\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":483,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=483","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":4},"title":"Evening in Honor of Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer at CityU","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday, December 12, from six to seven p.m. in the Wei Hing Theatre \u60e0\u537f\u5287\u9662 of CityU in Hong Kong, Bei Dao and other esteemed guests will be presenting the poems of New Directions poet and this year's Nobel laureate for literature, Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer. Click here for registration and more details.","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www6.cityu.edu.hk\/en\/ebs\/seminar\/event111212a.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www6.cityu.edu.hk\/en\/ebs\/seminar\/event111212a.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www6.cityu.edu.hk\/en\/ebs\/seminar\/event111212a.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www6.cityu.edu.hk\/en\/ebs\/seminar\/event111212a.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3120,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3120","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":5},"title":"Bei Dao to be awarded \u201cGolden Wreath\u201d Award","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The \u201cGolden Wreath\u201d Award, Macedonia's most prestigious literary prize, will be presented to Bei Dao \u5317\u5cf6 at the 2015 annual Struga Poetry Evenings. He is the 50th winner of this international award for poetry. Previous winners include Mahmoud Darwish, W. H. Auden, Allen Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Eugenio Montale, Adonis, Yehuda\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788"}],"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=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}