Rojas + the Maurer brothers - from Lianbi

 Carlos Rojas:

I really didn’t like the presentation. It was not very tightly connected to translation, filled with many random big topics that didn’t suit an audience where the majority didn’t have a background in Chinese. Even though I have Chinese, I still found the connection among his points very loose. How is the point about bad handwriting connected to the point about classical vs. contemporary Chinese? Plus, that handwriting is seriously not that bad. I could figure out what character it was very easily. I’m not sure what point he was trying to make: that it’s okay to just guess? He didn’t take time reading the passages carefully or really explain his points thoroughly. I also felt like he didn’t listen to his audience carefully enough and didn’t really respond to their questions. It was also irresponsible of him to have us read the Ng material and not talk about it at all. In general it felt like simply recycling a talk he did elsewhere at our seminar. It was not helpful and very hard to follow.

Notes about Christopher editing Karl Maurer’s translation:

• I’m so moved by the story of this book… What a beautiful thing for Christopher to gather the manuscripts and have them published. I feel like he’s giving a new meaning to “editor of translation.” So much love is felt between the lines…

• I love the bilingual format! I want to ask him about what kind of arrangements make this possible. It also seems like a thing Swan Isle Press does pretty often. 

• My impression is that Karl takes a more dynamic approach than Shapiro in the translations. I like Karl’s better. What I like most about Karl’s approach is how he uses poetic license to diverge from English grammar rules and word order to replicate the expressive power of the original. The unusual wordings are entirely understandable and surprise readers in a good way. At the same time, sometimes Karl diverges from the original wording by interpreting the actual meaning of connectives (especially y or and, I feel like Karl really dive deep into the question of the function of y in the original) or relationship between concepts. Shapiro seems to be principally interested in making the original read smooth and contemporary.

• Karl’s version read more exciting and surprising, as well as musical.

• “Memory of My Brother” particularly moved me. I liked “made out of lime and sand and flesh and soul” although it is not what the original says. The “comma comma comma and” structure sometimes slows the rhythm down too much, and four items in a list can be awkward.

• I like that Karl chose “except that here you are reproduced in me” rather than “but that here you are reproduced in me” because the “except” really highlights the stillness of permanence of departure and separation between the two brothers. (And oh my this line is so moving thinking about the context of Karl and Christopher.)

So sorry I ran out of time typing today! Will share more in class.