{"id":6109,"date":"2020-09-22T19:24:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T23:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.attlc-ltac.org\/?p=6109"},"modified":"2020-11-06T12:18:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T17:18:57","slug":"poetry-in-translation-east-meets-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.attlc-ltac.org\/fr\/poetry-in-translation-east-meets-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry in Translation: East Meets West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian-American poet Molly Peacock stated that poetry was the most provincial form of art. Yet, this insight did not hold her back from making her poetry global through her translator, Anna Yin, who herself was Mississauga\u2019s Inaugural Poet Laureate. At a Zoom event organized by the League of Canadian Poets and cohosted by the East and West Learning Club on August 14, 2020, Molly joined Anna in good spirits to discuss how her three poems written in English were able to reach millions and millions of Mandarin-speaking readers through literary translation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouple Sharing a Peach\u201d captures a moment of love and its music when a couple enjoys eating one peach in a hotel room:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time<\/p>\n

we\u2019ve bitten into a peach.<\/p>\n

But now at the same time<\/p>\n

it splits \u2013 half for each.<\/p>\n

Our \u201cthen\u201d is inside its \u201cnow,\u201d<\/p>\n

its halved pit unfleshed \u2013<\/p>\n

what was<\/em> refreshed.<\/p>\n

Two Happinesses unfold<\/p>\n

from one joy, folioed.<\/p>\n

In a hotel room<\/p>\n

our moment lies<\/p>\n

with its ode inside,<\/p>\n

a red tinge,<\/p>\n

with a hinge.<\/p>\n

Anna started with a word-for-word translation to stay faithful to the original. But she was not satisfied. The music and the emotions disappeared in the chain of Mandarin lines. In the revised version, she brought in the Chinese poetic images to convey the feelings, colours, and sounds of the original poem. This is what she shared on her screen:<\/p>\n

\u60c5\u4fa3\u5171\u4eab\u4e00\u9897\u6843<\/p>\n

\u8fd9\u4e0d\u662f\u7b2c\u4e00\u6b21\u4e86<\/p>\n

\u6211\u4fe9\u5171\u54ac\u4e00\u9897\u6843\u3002<\/p>\n

\u4f46\u5982\u4eca\u540c\u4e00\u65f6\u523b<\/p>\n

\u5b83\u88c2\u5f00\uff1a\u5747\u5206\u6b63\u597d\u3002<\/p>\n

\u679c\u6838\u534a\u5f00\u7740\u88f8\u9732\uff0c<\/p>\n

\u4eca\u671d\u643a\u5f80\u4e8b\u7f20\u7ef5\uff0c<\/p>\n

\u65e7\u60c5\u5237\u65b0\u518d\u590d\u71c3\u3002<\/p>\n

\u4e24\u4efd\u5e78\u798f\u81ea\u4e00\u4efd\u559c\u4e50\uff0c<\/p>\n

\u6269\u5c55\u518d\u5bf9\u6298\u3002<\/p>\n

\u5ba2\u6808\u5185\uff0c<\/p>\n

\u826f\u5bb5\u65f6\u5206<\/p>\n

\u7eed\u60c5\u7f18\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

\u4ea6\u5982\u871c\u6843\u679c\u6838\uff0c<\/p>\n

\u4ea6\u5982\u5e76\u8482\u60c5\u6b4c\u3002<\/p>\n

At the first glance, we see that the translated version remains linguistically loyal only until the fourth line, and only if the change of punctuation marks doesn\u2019t count. Then the translator\u2019s creativity folds in. The imagery of the \u201chalved pit unfleshed\u201d and the coalescence of \u201cthen\u201d and \u201cnow\u201d are still there, but the Mandarin starts to flare with the poetic expressions such as \u201c\u4eca\u671d\u201d\u3001\u201c\u5f80\u4e8b\u201d\u3001\u201c\u7f20\u7ef5\u201d\u3001\u201c\u826f\u5bb5\u201d\u3001\u201c\u60c5\u7f18\u201d\u3001\u201c\u5e76\u8482\u60c5\u6b4c\u201dto convey the feelings of love to the target audience who are familiar with the connotations of these terms. Reading the stanza again, we notice the translator\u2019s loyalty is still there: she made an effort to rhyme as the poet did even though the rhyming scheme appears different. Obviously, the translator prioritizes capturing the soul of the original poem; her compromise with the linguistic form is a thoughtful choice. It is responsible to the English version as it aims to represent its essence. It is also responsible to the Mandarin version because the aesthetic charm speaks to the sensibilities of its readers.<\/p>\n

When I asked Molly how she felt when her poems were artistically \u201cdistorted\u201d in another language, she responded with good nature. She was delighted that her poetry \u2013 the most provincial art form \u2013 became global because of the translator. She was happy that her poems were able to travel to another language through translation. Anna\u2019s translation connected her art to the Chinese poetic form, and she \u2013 as a result \u2013 was connected to her Chinese readers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the attempt is the success.\u201d Molly shared the line she would put on her gravestone to encourage other writers. In the attempt of the poet and her translator to discuss the process of translation to a diverse audience is the success of communicating across linguistic and cultural boundaries. In the attempt to reach a mutual understanding between the cultures from which English and Mandarin are spoken is the success of expanding and enriching the life of both languages.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div>

Leilei Chen<\/a>\u00a0is a literary translator, scholar, and writer. She published the Mandarin version of Steven Grosby’s Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction <\/i>(O<\/span><\/span>xford University Press) with Nanjing\u2019s Yilin Press in 2017 and Hong Kong\u2019s Oxford University Press in 2020. <\/span><\/span>She is the author of<\/span> Re-orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-cultural Understanding<\/i> (University of Regina Press, 2016). <\/span><\/span>Her<\/span> poetry and prose translations, and personal essays appear in Home: Stories Connecting Us All<\/i> (<\/span><\/span>Embracing Multicultural Community Development,<\/span> 2017), Looking Back, Moving Forward<\/i> (Mawenzi House, 2019), Beyond the Food Court: <\/i><\/span><\/span>An Anthology of Literary Cuisines <\/span><\/i>(Laberinto Press<\/span>, 2020), <\/span>The Polyglot, <\/span><\/i><\/span>\u7ca4\u6d77\u98ce\uff08<\/span><\/span>Yue Hai Feng<\/span><\/span>\uff09<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>\u4e2d\u56fd\u5987\u5973\uff08<\/span><\/span>Women of China<\/span><\/i><\/span>\uff09<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/i><\/span>\u5149\u534e\u62a5\uff08<\/span><\/span>The Chinese Journal<\/span><\/i><\/span>. She is a Research Affiliate at the Canadian Literature Centre \/ <\/span>Centre de litt\u00e9rature canadienne\u00a0and <\/span>teaches at the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>