The Summit of Everything - Excerpts Translated and Edited by Liang Zongdai (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (English) Shakespeare and Others
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Poetry, in a sense, is untranslatable. A good poem is the result of a deep collaboration between spiritual and material circumstances and experiences. The conditions for creating a good poem are not only the subject matter and opportunities provided by external things, but also the response and effort generated within the heart. The mountain wind and the sea tide, the night air and the morning light, the constellations and the reading material, the low talk of a good friend, the coughs and laughter of passersby, and all the great and tiny movements and sounds—all inspire the poet in deep thought, guiding and urging his emotions and imagery to reach that perfect and harmonious moment of subtlety; there, poetry is like a drop of heavy, crystal-clear, golden honey falling from the pen; there, the leaping poetic thoughts demand immortal forms and adapt to the heavy and, the heavy and, under the touch of the soul, rise to the leaping poetic thoughts, and at that unavoidable sudden encounter, bursts out brilliant sparks and the resonant sound of gold! Therefore, even the greatest poets cannot succeed in creating two identical masterpieces. The poems collected in this collection are merely the exercises of a poetry lover and are not worthy of being called literary works, let alone the miracles of two English and French poets. If the translator dares to have the slightest confidence and defense, it is that almost every poem in this collection is a work that he has recited repeatedly and finds endlessly enjoyable, that is to say, he firmly believes that he can understand the profound meaning and appreciate the charm of each great poet. Naturally, the masterpieces of these great poets are not limited to these; the poems and poets that the translator loves are also not limited to these; this is just because he feels that they are relatively translatable or happen to be translated on a whim. As for the translation style, it is mainly based on literal translation. Except for a few exceptions, not only is it translated line by line, but even word by word. The recent translations sometimes even try to imitate the rhythm and rhyme of the original works—in general, the closer the imitation of the original work, the more extreme. This translation method may be very clumsy. However, the translator has a hidden belief, which can be said to be a kind of superstition: that the words and order of the original work, that is to say, the words and order selected by the great poets are the most perfect and beautiful. If the translator can find appropriate corresponding words and idioms, except for a few grammatically correct structures, they can almost be transplanted intact. The translator translates Chinese poetry into Western language in this way, and translates Western poetry into Chinese language in this way. Sometimes, he feels that it is relatively more able to convey the spirit and rhyme of the original work. However, the translator must repeat here: due to the fundamental differences of language and the translator's personal expression, there are many cases where it is difficult to please and it is necessary to deviate from the track or change the direction.