Poetry

In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century

In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2023-01-02 06:51:53
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Wong May
  • ISBN：1734035161
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Summary

Chinese poetry is unique in world literature in that it was written for the best part of 3，000 years by exiles， and Chinese history can be read as a matter of course in the words of poets。

In this collection from the Tang Dynasty are poems of war and peace， flight and refuge but above all they are plain-spoken， everyday poems; classics that are everyday timeless， a poetry conceived "to teach the least and the most， the literacy of the heart in a barbarous world，" says the translator。

C。D。 Wright has written of Wong May's work that it is "quirky， unaffectedly well-informed， capacious， and unpredictable in [its] concerns and procedures，" qualities which are evident too in every page of her new book， a translation of Du Fu and Li Bai and Wang Wei， and many others whose work is less well known in English。

In a vividly picaresque afterword， Wong May dwells on the defining characteristics of these poets， and how they lived and wrote in dark times。 This translator's journal is accompanied and prompted by a further marginal voice， who is figured as the rhino: "The Rhino 通天犀 in Tang China held a special place，" she writes， "much like the unicorn in medieval Europe — not as conventional as the phoenix or the dragon but a magical being; an original spirit"， a fitting guide to China's murky， tumultuous Middle Ages， that were also its Golden Age of Poetry， and to this truly original book of encounters， whose every turn is illuminating and revelatory。

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Reviews

Yilin ，

Did not finish。I really， really wanted to like this book。 I picked it up because I am a literary translator who is interested in poetry and I really love Tang poetry。 Got the book after a glowing review of it in POETRY， talking about how the collection translates with a lot of care and makes an effort to the link poems to diaspora experiences of migration and exile。 The translator does indeed do very interesting things with how the poems look on the page， drawing on elements of concrete poem。 I Did not finish。I really， really wanted to like this book。 I picked it up because I am a literary translator who is interested in poetry and I really love Tang poetry。 Got the book after a glowing review of it in POETRY， talking about how the collection translates with a lot of care and makes an effort to the link poems to diaspora experiences of migration and exile。 The translator does indeed do very interesting things with how the poems look on the page， drawing on elements of concrete poem。 I also like how she makes the register of the diction feel more modern and contemporary。 However， a problem that I really struggled with is that her translations are often wildly inaccurate， getting basic facts in the original poems completely wrong。 One famous line by Li Bai that was about "the moon， the shadow， and I" got translated into "the moon， i， and nobody" （the poem is literally about drinking under the moon， and if you know anything about Li Bai， it's he wrote hundreds of poems for the moon）。 Another poem by Li Bai about a friend saying goodbye to the Yellow Crane Tower in the west and traveling （eastwards） downriver to Yangzhou got translated into heading westwards and departing Yangzhou to go downriver， which is the opposite of the original。 Basic inaccuracies like these are found throughout the translations， which is why I gave up on the book。 These issues suggest a carelessness or lack of basic understanding about the original poems that in my opinion goes beyond taking creative liberties。 I am fine with the stylistic liberties taken and I find those interesting， but often the lines or facts directly contradict the original or convey something so different that it's a new poem， which made this extremely for me to read as someone who is bilingual and familiar with the source poems。 。。。more

Hao Guang Tse ，

（4。5 stars for the typos）I had the immense privilege of encountering a draft manuscript of Wong May's In The Same Light in 2017， when it was still "just" 173 poems， she telling me "for your perusal only"。 My friend Daryl Lim Wei Jie's reviewed the book--pls read！ （http://www。asianbooksblog。com/2022/01。。。 I want to tack on some thoughts to those more tightly articulated in the review。|"Translation is a process of subjecting 2 languages to extreme stress tests， the ruptures can engulf one， true， b （4。5 stars for the typos）I had the immense privilege of encountering a draft manuscript of Wong May's In The Same Light in 2017， when it was still "just" 173 poems， she telling me "for your perusal only"。 My friend Daryl Lim Wei Jie's reviewed the book--pls read！ （http://www。asianbooksblog。com/2022/01。。。 I want to tack on some thoughts to those more tightly articulated in the review。|"Translation is a process of subjecting 2 languages to extreme stress tests， the ruptures can engulf one， true， but the fissures also let in light。" （https://carcanetblog。blogspot。com/202。。。）Wong May's work I think falls uneasily in the tradition of modernists/imagists inspired by the economy of classical Chinese poetry， allured by the imagistic "purity" of the language which it doesn't really possess （Pound etc）; and in the tradition of slightly more recent American poets trying， as I see it， to bring contemporariness into their translations， to make them also American poems （Weinberger， Hinton， Snyder etc）。 Yet here you have someone who is of quite a different profile: a native speaker of Chinese， a woman （overwhelmingly translating men）， arguably an actual exile from China， etc。 So perhaps it is unsurprising that even as her style seems heavily influenced by this tradition， her project departs from it in significant ways。Weinberger says "In its way a spiritual exercise， translation is dependent on the dissolution of the translator's ego: an absolute humility toward the text。" （19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei）。 He would have thought these translations bad。 Wong May herself says "The translator should ideally be the missing person" （Afterword）， and yet her missing translator is the late guest of honour。 That Wong May is a native Chinese speaker suggests this is confidence， not egotism， at work， "a consciousness without the self" （Blog）。 She owns the original poems in a way that many translators do not， her mum reciting them to her through her childhood， and yet she can call English her own language。 It's clear she sees translation as the practice of the exile: "To trance-late: Migrate / Transmigrate" （Afterword）。 Perhaps her missing person is rather more like the immigrant rushing to a meeting at the Embassy。Wong May has a thing for endings。 Some of the most outrageous （and outrageously beautiful） insertions of herself into the poems are in their final lines。 As Daryl mentioned， the final poem of the book is not even a Tang poem， but is instead an even more ancient poem continued and ended by a much more recent poet。 This poem clearly is a symbol for her approach to the book as a whole。 Then you come to the bewildering Afterword， the most forceful expression of the pure products of Wong May。In her Afterword Wong May casts herself as "a Rhinoceros in the China Shop"， another way to hide herself by making herself stand out all the more， in this case complete with little images of cartoon rhinoceros heads in the margins giving comments in speech bubbles。 The China shop is， of course， the accreted traditions of classical Chinese poetry and translations of this into Western languages。 The rhinoceros is， of course， a species extirpated from China。 Its horn had （questionable） medicinal and ritual uses， its endangerment due to the perceived potency of its products。 There is some speculation that the mythical qilin comes from the memory of an ancient relative of the rhino called Elasmotherium。There is a US version of this book coming out very soon （https://the-song-cave。com/products/in。。。）。 I have good intel that suggests the "minor kvetch" Daryl has towards the Carcanet edition's typos will not be an issue in the US edition。 If there are significant differences in the translations themselves， I look forward to having yet another version （three altogether including 2017 ms） to compare， to catch glimpses of her editing process。I hope this book also serves to clue people in to her poetry in general， her unicorn voice， a voice that simply gets it， "it" being my complete and undivided attention。"'Colours are the deeds of light/ its deeds & sufferings'。 Here I defer to Goethe。 In the last throes of my travail as a translator， I render -- Suffer the light to become colours — yes suffer us。Die Farben sind Taten des Lichts， Taten und Leiden。" （Blog） 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0