Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, Week 1 of 2

[x_los]

This week and next, we're looking at Eliot Weinberger's "Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei". This short book discusses many ways to translate a single, brief Tang dynasty poem and the choices involved therein. We'll look at the first nine poems (or versions thereof) this week, and the remainder the following. 

I'll reproduce the translations under discussion here, but c/ping from the pdf is not very reliable and frequently introduces errors. I'm including the text here primarily as a reference point for our discussions: I advise you to look at the book file itself for your reading.

Comments

6. The Deer Park

[x_los]

An empty hill, and no one in sight
But I hear the echo of voices.
The slanting sun at evening penetrates the deep woods
And shines reflected on the blue lichens.

-Soame Jenyns, 1944

Re: 6. The Deer Park

[x_los]

Poor lichens

That is a neat point about material precision in English--do I agree, though? Given how relational (and thus vague) Chinese--especially concise premodern forms of Chinese--can be? 

This is such a good idea, noting the translator's circumstances

Re: 6. The Deer Park

[superborb]

Weinberger has strong opinions on editorializing, but I'm not sure I'm totally persuaded to his side yet.