About this title: This title features nineteen different translations of a single poem with comments on each version by Eliot Weinberger and an introduction contributed by Octavio Paz.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Moyer Bell Ltd. Pub Date: 3/1/1987 Binding: Paperback Pages: 53. read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: NONE ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Moyer Bell Ltd. Pub Date: 3/1/1987 Binding: Paperback Pages: 53. read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Moyer Bell Ltd. Pub Date: 3/1/1987 Binding: Paperback Pages: 53. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Moyer Bell
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780918825148ISBN:0918825148
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Moyer Bell Ltd
Date Published: 1987-03-01
ISBN-13:9780918825148ISBN:0918825148
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780918825148. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Moyer Bell
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780918825148ISBN:0918825148
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean text, tight binding, gentle shelf wear. Text in Chinese, English, French, Spanish. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 53 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: MOYER BELL LTD
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780918825148ISBN:0918825148
Description: New. Nineteen different translations of a single poem with comments on each version by Eliot Weinberger and introduction contributed by Octavio Paz. read more
"Eliot Weinberger's 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei (subtitled "How a Chinese Poem is Translated") presents Wang Wei's famous "Deer Park" poem in 19 versions: Chinese, transliterated Chinese (Pinyin), and a word-by-word rendering, then in 16 (or so) translations with Weinberger's comments. (The translations are primarily into English, although a Spanish version and two French versions are also included.)
From the title, which appears to be inspired by Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," I expected something a little more contemplative. I found Weinberger's comments, on the whole, to be unnecessarily vicious and judgmental. It's as if every section of Stevens's poem ended with the line "But this way of looking at a blackbird is wrong." Weinberger never does offer a translation of his own, although he appears to have some kind of ideal in mind of which every translation he profiles somehow falls short.
This would not in itself be a bad thing--for we must recognize that every translation does, in some way, depart from the original. But Weinberger seems to feel that any change to the poem, especially any expansion, is due to the translator's special hatred for the poet and contempt for his readers' intelligence. In section 8 he states that additions to a translation are "the product of a translator's unspoken contempt for the foreign poet" (p. 17). He goes on to suggest that the translators of the version on which he is commenting were too dense to realize that Wang Wei could have written X (as in the translation) but chose to write Y. While I think his point is well-taken, it could easily have been made without the caustic innuendo. Reading some of the translations, you do wonder what these guys were thinking--but I don't believe that assuming they're stupid oafs at best or malicious tinkerers at worst is really the right way to approach things.
I found the brief essays by Octavio Paz to be more what I expected: commentary on the poem itself, as well as a balanced and interesting exploration of the issues involved in translating it. He explains calmly why he made the choices he did in his Spanish version (also present in the book), and why he made certain (and significant) changes from his original draft.
While it is interesting and perhaps even enlightening to have such a varied collection of translations side-by-side, any real insights as to what the comparison says about "How a Chinese Poem is Translated" will have to be deduced by the reader alone, as Weinberger's jeering comments are rarely much help in this direction. The concept is a solid one, but I wish the presentation were a little more balanced.
"I love the premise of this book: it shows the Chinese characters of one of Wang Wei's poems, then the transliteration, then the literal translation, then 16 published translations in chronological order. It's the kind of thing I'd like to see done with lots of different poems, though that might get impractical. It's a great way to start thinking about translation and how one's own priorities and ideas about it fit into what's already going on."
"Highly interesting to read different interpretations of the original Chinese poem by Wei. I especially loved reading the French translation, since it became a completely different poem in a sense. One thing you will learn about Chinese poetry is that it is best when it is simple. Less is more. One word can have a variety of meanings, so just imagine what a sentence can do."
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