{"id":926,"date":"2012-05-18T10:31:05","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T02:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=926"},"modified":"2012-05-18T10:31:05","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T02:31:05","slug":"metre-maids-on-xi-chuan-at-the-bookworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=926","title":{"rendered":"Metre Maids on Xi Chuan at the Bookworm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah <\/a>Translator & poet Sarah Stanton<\/a> of the Metre Maids<\/a> blog has posted a write-up of my event with Xi Chuan at the Beijing Bookworm last Thursday night<\/a>. Comprehensive and enthusiastic, her coverage not only chronicles the event, but some of Xi Chuan’s background as well. Here’s my favorite moment of her piece<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This question came up again during the discussion after the reading, with translator Canaan Morse<\/a> asking Xi Chuan how he feels when people expect him, as a Chinese writer, to be writing the same sorts of things the Tang poets were writing a thousand years ago. His answer was short and to the point: \u201cI hate it!\u201d Another memorable moment came when he was asked if he thought one had to get angry or upset to write good poetry: he replied to the effect that it\u2019s hard work that creates good poetry, not emotion, and at that point I\u2019m sure I heard millions of emo voices cry out in terror, and be suddenly silenced.<\/p>\n

Lucas also discussed at some length the processes that went into creating the book, his own attitudes to translation, and translating Xi Chuan in particular. Once again I was struck by the sheer amount of time and love which had gone into these poems, both in their original language and in their English form. The role of the translator is so often relegated to that of mouthpiece, a faceless channel for the poet\u2019s vision, but in good translation\u2013and in good literature\u2013there is always a sense of partnership. After the talk, I asked both poet and translator to sign my book, and Lucas\u2019 signature sitting neatly below \u00a0Xi Chuan\u2019s on the title page seems to me a perfect symbol of everything they\u2019re doing right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translator & poet Sarah Stanton of the Metre Maids blog has posted a write-up of my event with Xi Chuan at the Beijing Bookworm last Thursday night. Comprehensive and enthusiastic, her coverage not only chronicles the event, but some of … 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":[3,9,16,7],"tags":[183,93,513,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-eW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":918,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=918","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":0},"title":"Back from Beijing","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm back from Beijing, where my reading with Xi Chuan at the Beijing Bookworm was--to my mind, at least--a great success: great turnout, a lively reading, and interesting, probing questions from the audience about the poetic process for Xi Chuan and my process as a translator. More to come.","rel":"","context":"In "Ruminations"","block_context":{"text":"Ruminations","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":916,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=916","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":1},"title":"TONIGHT–Xi Chuan & Lucas Klein Reading at the Beijing Bookworm","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight--Thursday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., Xi Chuan and I will be reading from Notes on the Mosquito at the Beijing Bookworm bookstore (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing \u4e09\u91cc\u5c6f\u5357\u88574\u53f7\u9662). Hope to see you there! Click here for more details.","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cwstatic.ringierchina.cn\/files\/images\/2012\/01\/27\/image-20120127-0x650qluz49j8e2zborp_t_w280_h280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":908,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=908","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":2},"title":"Xi Chuan & Lucas Klein Reading at the Beijing Bookworm, Thursday May 10","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On Thursday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., Xi Chuan and I will be reading from Notes on the Mosquito at the Beijing Bookworm bookstore (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing \u4e09\u91cc\u5c6f\u5357\u88574\u53f7\u9662). Hope to see you there! Click here for more details.","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cwstatic.ringierchina.cn\/files\/images\/2012\/01\/27\/image-20120127-0x650qluz49j8e2zborp_t_w280_h280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3826,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3826","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":3},"title":"The 2018 Return of the Bookworm International Literary Festival","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Global Times reports: Ever since the Bookworm Beijing bookstore postponed and later canceled its annual Bookworm International Literary Festival (BLF) fans have been waiting and wondering whether the 10-year-old event would return. Well, the wait is over as according to Peter Goff, the general manager of the Bookworm, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.globaltimes.cn\/Portals\/0\/attachment\/2017\/2017-07-27\/b247fc09-e3d5-46a6-9410-4d2fef466616.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":771,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=771","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":4},"title":"Xi Chuan reading at the Beijing Bookworm","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Pictures"","block_context":{"text":"Pictures","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Beijing-Bookworm-Womens-Day-Reading1-721x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Beijing-Bookworm-Womens-Day-Reading1-721x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Beijing-Bookworm-Womens-Day-Reading1-721x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=52","url_meta":{"origin":926,"position":5},"title":"Xi Chuan reading “Twilight” \u66ae\u8272","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you who can't make it to any of Xi Chuan's readings in the US this fall (or for those who want a taste of future readings), here's a short clip of him from the 2009 International Literary Festival at the Beijing Bookworm, reading an earlier draft of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readings"","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EM-VPEQ2iuY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926"}],"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=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":927,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}