Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese
Poetry. Asian Studies. Arthur Sze has rare qualifications when it comes to translating Chinese: he is an award-winning poet who was raised in both languages. A second-generation Chinese-American, Sze has gathered over 70 poems that have had a profound effect on both American poetics and Sze's own maturation as an artist. His anthology features poets who have become literary icons to generations of Chinese readers and scholars. Here are the quiet nature poems of Li Ching Chao alongside the...
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Arthur Sze has rare qualifications when it comes to translating Chinese: he is an award-winning poet who was raised in both languages. A second-generation Chinese-American, Sze has gathered over 70 poems by poets who have had a profound effect on Chinese culture, American poetics and Sze's own maturation as an artist. Also included is an informative insightful essay on the methods and processes involved in translating ideogrammic poetry.MOONLIGHT NIGHTby Tu Fucan only look out alone at the moon.From Ch'ang-an I pity my childrenwho cannot yet remember or understand.Her hair is damp in the fragrant mist.Her arms are cold in the clear light.When will we lean beside the windowand the moon shine on our dried tears?Sze's anthology features poets who have become literary icons to generations of Chinese readers and scholars. Included are the poems of the great, rarely translated female poet Li Ching Chao alongside the remorseful exile poems of Su Tung-p'o. This book will prove a necessary and insightful addition to the library of any reader of poetry in translation.The poets include:T'ao Ch'ien Wang HanWang WeiLi Po Tu FuPo Chü-yiTu MuLi Shang-yinSu Tung-p'oLi Ch'ing-chaoShen ChouChu TaWen I-to Yen ChenArthur Sze is the author of six previous books of poetry, including The Redshifting Web and Archipelago. He has received the Asian American Literary Award for his poetry and translation, a prestigious Lannan Literary Award, and was recently a finalist for the Leonore Marshall Poetry Prize. He teaches at the Institute of AmericanIndian Arts.from A Painting of a CatNan Ch'uan wanted to be reborn as a water buffalo,but who did the body of the malicious cat become?Black clouds and covering snow are alike.It took thirty years for clouds to disperse, snow to melt.-Pa-ta-shan-jen (1626-1705)The Last DayWater sobs and sobs in the bamboo pipe gutter.Green tongues of banana leaves lick at the windowpanes.The four surLibrary JournalIn this small, select collection of poems, Sze, author of six previous books of poetry and professor of creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, has made accessible to Western readers the works of 18 Chinese poets previously translated into English sparsely, if at all. Among the most valuable aspects of this sensitively crafted collection is the introduction, in which Sze describes, in fascinating detail, his translation process, from the word clusters he creates for each Chinese ideogram to the finished poem. The Silk Dragon (Sze's metaphor for poetry) begins with the timeless poems of T'ao Ch'ien ("Evening dew moistens my clothes;/ but so what if my clothes are wet / I choose not to avoid anything that comes") and moves on to such masters of poetry as Wang Wei, Li Po, and Shen Chou, to name just a few. Toward the end, the reader is introduced to the contemporary poetry of Yen Chen, whose distinctive "party" voice nonetheless reflects his heritage: "The traveling bells ring quick/ like beans jumping in the frying pan." Recommended. Judy Clarence, California State Univ. Lib., Hayward Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Introduction3Drinking Wine (I)13Drinking Wine (II)14Drinking Wine (III)15Returning to Fields and Gardens (I)16Returning to Fields and Gardens (II)17Song of Liang-chou18Bamboo Grove19Deer Park20Hsin-yi Village21Untitled22Highland23Sending Off Mr. Yuan24Drinking Alone with the Moon25Song of Ch'ang-kan26Night Thoughts28The Lotus29To the Tune of "Clear Happiness"30Return to Chiang Village31Spring View32Night at the Tower33Moonlight Night34Thoughts on a Night Journey35A Question Addressed to Mr. Liu36Snow on the River37Flying Light38Song of the Collator's Sword in the Spring Bureau40Autumn Comes42Anchored at Ch'in-huai River43Easing My Heart44The Brocade Zither45Untitled (I)46Untitled (II)47The Lo-yu Tombs48On a Rainy Night, Lines to Be Sent North49To the Tune of "Meeting Happiness"50To the Tune of "Joy in the Oriole's Flight"51Spring Night52To the Tune of "Intoxicated in the Shadows of Flowers"53To the Tune of "Telling My Most Intimate Feelings"54To the Tune of "Plum Blossoms in the Breeze": Evening Bell at a Misty Temple55To the Tune of "Sailing at Night" (I)56To the Tune of "Sailing at Night" (II)57To the Tune of "Sky-clear Sand": Autumn Thoughts58Inscribed on a Painting59Globefish60Bamboo61From a Painting of a Cat62Inscription for a Painting63Bright Light and Cloud Shadows64Dead Water65Perhaps67Miracle68The Last Day72Good Harvest73The Plum Hint74On the Willow Bank76Red Rain78Notes to Poems81Biographical Notes85About the Translator89
\ Library JournalIn this small, select collection of poems, Sze, author of six previous books of poetry and professor of creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, has made accessible to Western readers the works of 18 Chinese poets previously translated into English sparsely, if at all. Among the most valuable aspects of this sensitively crafted collection is the introduction, in which Sze describes, in fascinating detail, his translation process, from the word clusters he creates for each Chinese ideogram to the finished poem. The Silk Dragon (Sze's metaphor for poetry) begins with the timeless poems of T'ao Ch'ien ("Evening dew moistens my clothes;/ but so what if my clothes are wet / I choose not to avoid anything that comes") and moves on to such masters of poetry as Wang Wei, Li Po, and Shen Chou, to name just a few. Toward the end, the reader is introduced to the contemporary poetry of Yen Chen, whose distinctive "party" voice nonetheless reflects his heritage: "The traveling bells ring quick/ like beans jumping in the frying pan." Recommended. Judy Clarence, California State Univ. Lib., Hayward Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.\ \
