Book Twenty-Nine goodbyes post

A primer for those with no previous knowledge of Chinese this book introduces readers to the fundamentals of classical Chinese poetry through twenty nine ways of understanding a single poem Seeing Off a Friend by the great Tang poet Li Bai 701 762 has long been praised for its vividness subtlety and poignancy Anthologizing twenty nine translations of the poem Timothy Billings not only introduces the poem s richness and depth but also the nuanced art of translating Chinese poetry into European languages A famous exemplar of seeing off poetry which was common in an empire whose literati were continually on the move Li s poem has continued to fascinate readers far removed from its moment of composition from the Victorians to Ezra Pound to contemporary translators from around the world In talking us through these linguistic crossings Billings unpacks the intricacies of the l shi or regulated verse poem a form as pivotal to Chinese literature as the sonnet is to European tradition. Book Twenty-Nine goodbyes post This book promises to transform its readers step by step into adept interpreters of one of the most significant verse forms in Chinese literary history Billings s engaging teaching style backed by a lightly worn but deep scholarly engagement with Chinese poetry makes this work an indispensable guide for anyone interested in poetry translation or the cultural heritage of China Twenty Nine Goodbyes An Introduction to Chinese PoetryThe premise of this book is simple Billings presents twenty nine different translations of a famous farewell poem by the Tang Dynasty poetic genius Li Bai and compares contrasts and critiques them in detail The included translations weren t all crafted in the English language but English translations of the translations are presented as needed There are translations from French Spanish Japanese and even modern Mandarin Chinese among others Despite how that may sound it is a tremendously readable book Billings writes with engaging prose employs humor especially when critiquing his own contribution in the final chapter and uses complicated jargon only when necessary and with comprehensible explanations Still it does take a certain level of passion to read because one is repeatedly examining the same poem and one has to have an interest in the minutiae of said poem and importantly an interest in the broader lessons conveyed about translation If whether a color is translated as green or blue or what symbolic object tumbles on the ground or what sound a horse makes doesn t seem change the emotional experience of the poem for you then you ll probably have a hard time getting into this book That said the ability to take a longitudinal view seeing same points in a given poem through the lens of different poets and translators cross time and cultures does offer insight that one would be unlikely to get from reading any of the twenty nine translations in isolation as part of a single translator s collection of translations. EPub Twenty-Nine goodbyes The most useful thing the book did for me was to increase my understanding of the nature of translation and its tradeoffs as well as to elucidate how easy it is to miss the mark when one is translating from a perspective so different in time and worldview I d highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Tang Dynasty poetry translation and the interface of culture and language Twenty Nine Goodbyes An Introduction to Chinese Poetry Explicitly inspired by Weinberger s 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei Billings surpasses it imo He goes in depth in his review of each poem and dedicates time to explaining the underlying Chinese form He also offers his own translation at the end as sort of a culmination of his critiques of others which he then also reviews. Book Twenty-Nine goodbyes post The style of Billings writing is a bit odd it reads like a blog post except for a few dense pages towards the end I found this mostly enjoyable and occasionally funny but I think it could rub some people the wrong way It is as the subtitle suggests an introduction and so is written at about the level I d expect for an undergraduate lecture That being said I had to look up a word obnubilated and a reference or two but if you re the kind of person who is picking up a book like this I imagine you d agree that this is part of the fun Twenty Nine Goodbyes An Introduction to Chinese Poetry This book managed to cement itself within my top 5 2024 2025 book recommendations with the introduction alone This is the scholastic pettiness I have been looking for all my life Two caveats to enjoy this book You need to be somewhat of a linguistics nerd and have an appreciation for poetry The author does dive into the technicalities of translation poetry That said this book is incredibly readable Filled with lots of humor and scathing reviews I have found myself genuinely laughing out loud Mr Timothy Billings I am a fan Twenty Nine Goodbyes An Introduction to Chinese Poetry