Three Chinese Poets: Translations of Poems by Wang Wei, Li Bai, and Du Fu

By Vikram Seth

Book Overview

Us

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060553529
• ISBN13: 9780060553524
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 53 Pages

Customer Reviews

Translated ideas can impress too!

I picked this book primarily because after reading both verse and prose from the author, I know the translation would make a great reading. It did. I liked the poetry, the ideas, and whatever Chinese poets must have thought about was communicated as well as possible in well-compiled text. I cannot read or understand Chinese, but my Chinese friends found the translations to be inadequate and half-hearted representations of what they described as timeless, classic poetry. Knowing the difficulty in faithfully representing a different culture for an author, and the complexity of translation of any verse, cultures, times and metaphors, I think Vikram Seth as always did a commendable job. For real taste of his poetic genius, read The Golden gate or All you who sleep tonight!