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Pound In Translation


That’s a bit misleading. I’ve noted a couple of times recently, when writing about translations of classical Chinese poetry, that the greatest influence on those translators might be Ezra Pound’s translations.

Well, in this trashing of Pound (not undeserved), is a quote from Simon Leys:

Pound had a mistaken idea of the Chinese language, but his mistake was remarkably stimulating and fecund as it was based on one important and accurate intuition. Pound correctly observed that a Chinese poem is not articulated upon a continuous, discursive thread, but that it flashes discontinuous series of images (not unlike the successive frames of a film).

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Poems Of The Late T’ang


9781590172575

I probably should not have read this so soon after (re)reading a collection of Li Po, because (except for a few poems, including by Li Po) the vast majority of the poems in here are simply not as good and of less interest to the non-specialized, general poetry reader (of course, these days, a reader of poetry is not a generalist, but a specialist, because poetry is tragically underread). Many, frankly, appear as filler. Rather, they are there to fill in gaps, so provide a historical purpose, perhaps, but less so an aesthetic one.

As a side note, the edition I read was not the one pictured, but an older (I bought it used), Penguin edition. Even if I wasn’t a huge fan, for reasons partly unrelated to the work, I’m glad the NYRB imprint has republished this work.

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Staged Reading Of A New Play At The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop


I’d had a ticket for this, but then the blizzard came and it was rescheduled. It wasn’t a full on production but a staged reading of a new play titled First Citizen, presenting the little performed Shakespeare play, Coriolanus, from (mostly) the point of view of four ‘citizens’ who more or less represented different classes and different political viewpoints. Rather like Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the play interspersed actual dialogue from Shakespeare with the new dialogue of First Citizen. Afterwards, was a talk back session; I had been expecting it to be more question and answer, but it was more like an open critique.

Some of the critiques I disagreed with, especially since most centered around historicity. Whether characters accurately reflected socio-economic realities of that time (late Republic) of Roman history. Whether we needed more background on Roman politics (what are the roles of the Consul and Tribunes?).

My personal response was different. As to historicity, first of all, it’s in dialogue with Shakepeare who, despite writing plays known as ‘history plays,’ should not be considered a historical source, so let’s not ask it to be historically accurate (but let’s do ask it to be presently relevant). Secondly, knowing some of the basics of the political system of one of the founding civilizations of what we know as western civilization is not, actually, too much to ask. I don’t want to get into (relevant) questions of euro-centrism in education, but knowing the barest minimum about the Roman Republic is pretty basic stuff (and does not preclude nor exclude also having a basic knowledge about Imperial China’s bureaucratic system).

On the positive side, the play handled political questions well. It was a political play about the best path for change that benefits the mass of people and it did an excellent job of not reaching conclusions, by which I mean, every point of view was challenged, so that the audience was denied a pat, self-satisfied answer and was instead given more questions.

On the negative, and it’s a small point, I thought that the non-‘direct from Coriolanus‘ dialogue was too much in the middle. It bounced a bit between colloquial and vaguely Shakespearean. Don’t try to compete, I say. I would have liked the original dialogue to be more colloquial and more modern in tone.

But really good and if it is put on around here, I would go see it.

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Chinese New Year Concert


The Shenzen Symphony Orchestra played at the Kennedy Center for several nights of performances to ring in the Year of the Monkey. Honestly, I bought the ticket because it was immensely cheap, but it turned out to be a great night.

ShenzenSome music based on regional folk music by Yuankai Bao was a great listen. Bucolic, pastoral, folksy. Very enjoyable. The Yellow River Concerto by Xinghai Xian left me a little underwhelmed though.

Violinist Dan Zhu was absolutely amazing. He played in Carmen Fantasie (if you’ve heard that famous Carmen music on NPR, it probably wasn’t from the original opera, but one of two orchestral arrangements on themes from Carmen; this was the one by Franz Waxman) and his bowing was wonderful powerfully and masculine.

The Peony Pavilion is a Kunqu Opera. I’d never heard of it either. It’s something between western opera and Chinese opera and musical theater. Some of the singing by the male lead was done in a falsetto that sounded odd to my ears and to many of the other in the audience (but that doesn’t excuse some of the juvenile responses; thought folks get a pass for giggling at some of the lines: Let me shower your thirsting flower is not subtle innuendo).

And then there were excerpts from Turandot. Even if you’re not an opera fan (and I am an opera fan), it’s hard not to be moved by a stirring, romantic aria by Puccini. It goes right to your heart and makes you want to stand up and pour it all out.

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Platonism In Boethius


Actually, it’s more Plato, than Platonism, which is arguably something different than the the ideas of Plato. Arguably.

I have a strange attachment to Boethius’ Consolations of Philosophy. Over a decade ago, my Aunt Petey was in a coma and she was taken off, to use the sterile, clinical phrasing, nutrition and hydration and then brought to her eldest son’s home, where the family gathered and waited.

At one point, I stood beside her bed and started reading aloud from Consolations. Maybe because I was reading it anyway or maybe because it was written by a man waiting to die. Maybe I just thought my family would think me extra super smart if I did it. Maybe I was just killing time, even as my aunt was killing time in a far more literal sense. I honestly don’t remember why.

But whatever my motivations, certainly, something like that burns a particular work onto the brain.

When I read Gorgias, I was unexpectedly hit by some parallels. There are some obvious between the Beothius of Consolations (the only Boethius that I know) and the Plato I know from his broader corpus (though I haven’t read all of Plato): their lack of respect for poetry (which, granted, was more like theater or even pagan ritual at the time) and the fact that the Socrates of Plato’s dialogues, including Gorgias, is always in a state of waiting to be taken away to die, much as my Boethius is in a cell, waiting for eventual punishment (which turned out to be execution, as he suspected).

Gorgias had an unexpected metaphysical aspect, as Socrates argued for the scales of justice righting themselves in the world hereafter as a way for the correct path – the best life, as it were – to be finally rewarded, even if lots of bad things happened to good people in this one, along with some pretty awful people seemingly to live pretty fun loving and enjoyable existences. In the Consolations, the figure of Philosophy (a woman, by the way) seems to take Socrates’ role and lead Boethius to the realization that his unjust accusers are, for this metaphysical reason, ultimately less happy than a just and good man, even if he is about to be tortured and killed.

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Selected Poems Of Li Po


One of the advantages (and distractions of moving) is unpacking your books and seeing tomes you had forgotten about, reappear, as if by magic.

9780811213233I remember very clearly buying this book. I also remember that I didn’t really like it at the time. But, it came with me on a walk recently. It was the proper size and I had just unpacked it, so it went into my satchel and onto the road with me (or, rather, onto the sidewalk with me; actually, roads, too, because the recent Snowzilla had left many of the sidewalks unwalkable, so us pedestrians took to the streets, drivers be damned!).

Now, I’m wondering why I didn’t realize before how awesome it is.

And credit must go to the translator. While I don’t read classical Chinese, from what I know, a direct translation would be almost meaningless and certainly poetry-less. Of course, let’s be totally honest and acknowledge that classical Chinese poetry (and even contemporary Chinese poetry) translations are, in their style, vastly influenced by Ezra Pound’s translations and his interpretation of baroque spareness.

Avoiding Farewell in a Chin-Ling Wineshop

Breezes filling the inn with willow-blossom scents,
elegant girls serve wine, enticing us to try it.

Chin-ling friends come to see me off, I try to leave
but cannot, so we linger out another cup together.

I can’t tell anymore. Which is long and which short,
the river flowing east or thoughts farewell brings on?

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National Gallery Of Singapore


I didn’t actually go there. Or rather, I went inside the foyer, but because of an impending airplane back to Thailand, didn’t actually visit the galleries.

But nonetheless, I was excited by this article on the National Gallery.

Notably, that the author said that museum ‘indicates a strong belief in culture holding its own rather than it serving as a sub-branch of tourism.’

This was something that I felt myself while over there – that the nation felt that the arts were a critical part of the small country’s identity going forward (possibly because, lacking a lengthy national history, the arts become a way to build a national culture and support a national identity).

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‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ At The Folger


MSNDWide

Loved it.

Went on a whim. Found some cheap tickets online, bought that day for the show that evening.

When I was a child, my mother took me to see this play, making it my first encounter with live Shakespeare. If I’m honest, I don’t really have any firm memories of it. Nor had I read the play since then, so, rather unusually, I was able to go into the performance with only the barest knowledge of the plot (star-crossed lovers, Puck, fairies, and a donkey).

The production was befittingly playful, with some fun, extra-textual touches (a lovelorn Helena introduced singing a sad song by Adele). Puck was played by Erin Weaver as less a trickster, than a pan-sexual cupid (actually, all three fairy characters were pretty hypersexed). Lovers Lysander and Hermia were twenty-something, backpacking travelers; Helena as a stylish young woman (except that when first seen, she’s wearing the sweats of a depressed and jilted lover); but Demetrius was merely… I don’t know… millennial? He didn’t really get the kind of identifying costuming that the others did.

And it ended with an onstage dance party by the cast.

There’s still time. Absolutely worth seeing. Arguably, the second best production I’ve seen at the Folger (number one has to be their amazing Richard III).

Also, because of all the extremely valuable primary documents in the exhibit hall, they opened up the library itself for wine, water, and snacks (not wanting to risk a priceless letter to Shakespeare being wine-stained). Unless you’re a legitimate scholar, you don’t get much chance to wander back there, so that was exciting.

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Poetry Is A Necessity When You Travel


Reading Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems was a lucky coincidence. The book was a gift. I had been looking for a proper book of poetry to bring with me. Poetry is a necessity when you travel. You can pick it up, open it a random point, at the beginning, at a point, not random, but chosen because it has relevant meaning to what you have encountered.

My original thought had been to bring Whitman, but most editions are too big to be easily carried about.

But there was something of Whitman in Leaves of Grass. The pleasure in humanity as a mass. The aspects of the flaneur. Yes, the homoeroticism. Nothing in Lunch Poems resembles Whitman’s aching Civil War songs and laments, but, then again, what does? A reminder of Whitman’s power and influence over even the best poetry that followed. Or, perhaps, especially over the best poetry that followed.

Frank O'Hara: 'Lunch Poems'

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Asian Civilizations Museum – Singapore


This museum really should be a ‘must visit,’ if you should be visiting Singapore. I’m not saying: ‘go to Singapore right, solely because of the presence of this museum.’ No, I’m just saying that if you happen to be in Singapore and you don’t stop by, you are probably a horrible human being. That’s all.

The collection is wide and varied and while not every single culture in Southeast Asian can be represented, nor every culture represented equally (in terms of space and available collection), but I can’t think of single, culture (or civilization) specific exhibit that gave its subject short shrift. As you might expect from an island nation, island and sea-going cultures were widely represented, as was the influence of ever present Buddhism.

They also had the most wonderful exhibit on a medieval, Middle Eastern trading ship. It had carried a cargo of goods from the Mediterranean to China and then loaded up on Chinese porcelain to take back, but had sunk on that return voyage.