For short paper #5, repeat what we’ve practiced in short papers #2, #3, and #4: Pick a short passage (a few lines or sentences) and close read it, making sure to annotate your text and provide evidence of that annotation. This time, however, I want you to find 1-2 other translations of the passage you chose, and compare them to each other: how do these different translations seem like and unlike each other? What changes in vocabulary, tone, and even content do you see, and what is significant, to your mind, about these changes? What effect do you think one translator is going for versus another (for example, is one using more exuberant language to create a melodramatic effect)?
In 1-2 pages, present your observations of these differences and similarities and what you think is significant about them.
Note: if you can find a translation into another language you also read (such as French or Spanish), that’s great too–you might compare these translations across languages).
Links to a few alternate translations:
The Pillow Book: You can “match up” your lines in the Norton with the translations below by finding the correct journal entry number.
Translation by Ivan Morris: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic787484.files/eas97ab_pillowbook.pdf
Snippets from Arthur Waley’s version (which is itself abridged: he only translated 1/4 of the work):https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/eng2800hmwc/?page_id=222
A book in Baruch’s library with different translations of the Pillow Book: Worlding Sei Shonagan (PL788.6 .A1995 H46 2012)
Meredith McKinney, the translator of our version in the Norton, discusses her translation process: http://www.kyotojournal.org/the-journal/in-translation/on-translating-a-classic/
Kokinshu:
Translations by Thomas McAuley:
Book 1. Spring
Poem 1:http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0321.shtml
Poem 2: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0322.shtml
Poem 3: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0323.shtml
Poem 23: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0331.shtml
Poem 25: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0332.shtml
Poem 26: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0333.shtml
Book 2: Spring
Poem 69: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0346.shtml
Poem 70: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0347.shtml
Poem 71: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0348.shtml
Book 11: Love
Poem 553: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0591.shtml
Poem 554: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0592.shtml
Book 13: Love
Poem 635: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0641.shtml
Poem 657: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0647.shtml
Poem 658: http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/waka0648.shtml
Translations of Kokinshu poems by Larry Hammer: http://lnhammer.livejournal.com/182467.html
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
Jessie Weston’s translation: http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/sggk_weston.pdf
W.A. Neilson’s translation: http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/sggk_neilson.pdf
James Winny’s translation: http://online.hillsdale.edu/file/great-books-101/week-11/Week-11—Jackson-GB-101-2014-Readings.pdf
A.S. Kline’s translation: http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/GawainAndTheGreenKnight.htm
(and, if you’re interested, the original Middle English!: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/Gawain?rgn=main;view=fulltext)
Tang Dynasty Poetry: A google search for these poems will lead you to several different translations of the poems we read by Li Bo, Du Fu, Wang Wei and Bo Juyi. Here are a few links:
Poems in Chinese, pinyin, literal English, poetic English
Wang Wei
- Deer Grove: http://chinese-poems.com/deer.html
- In Response to Vice-Magistrate Zhang: http://chinese-poems.com/zhang.html
- http://www.shiku.org/shiku/ws/zg/wangwei.htm (“ANSWERING VICE-PREFECT ZHANG,” “MY RETREAT AT MOUNT ZHONGNAN” and “DEER-PARK HERMITAGE” are all different translations of the one we have in the Norton).
Du Fu
- Qiang Village I: http://chinese-poems.com/d14.html
- My thatched roof is ruined by the autumn wind: http://chinese-poems.com/d08.html
Li Bo
- Question and Answer on the Mountain: http://chinese-poems.com/lb3.html
- Seeing of Meng Haoran at Yellow Crane Tower on His Way to Gaungling: http://chinese-poems.com/lb2.html
- In The Quiet Night: http://chinese-poems.com/lb4.html
- Sitting Alone by Jingting Mountain: http://chinese-poems.com/lb9.html
One Thousand and One Nights:
Prologue/Frame Tale: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/burt1k1/tale00.htm
The Tale of the Donkey and the Bull (the one the Vizier tells his daughter, Shahrzad): http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/burt1k1/tale00.htm
(will try to post others: can Google as well)