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

[x_los]

This week, we're finishing 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. This week, we'll look at the last ten poems. 

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

Re: 17. Clos aux cerfs

[superborb]

Don't literature people closely analyze the choice of POV and such though always?

Re: 17. Clos aux cerfs

[x_los]

More--IS this an active choice THIS poem is making, versus something the entire genre does? Like, are you talking about Shaun of the Dead like it invented zombies, versus just engaging with a pre-existing strong convention?

Re: 17. Clos aux cerfs

[superborb]

Ah, that makes sense.