Jeremy Tiang was such an eloquent speaker, and I really enjoyed listening to him. I appreciated that he didn't attempt to sugarcoat the situation about the translation world. We, as a culture, do not enjoy/appreciate enough work in translation, and when we do, it's always something European. The lack of appreciation for Chinese classics, Indian classics, African classics, etc. is upsetting, but we do seem to be getting on the right track. I'm actually reading The Wedding Party (translated by Tiang) right now and I'm loving it. I'd love to read more of his work in the future.
My biggest question before I read Yi Lei's poetry was how on Earth Tracy K. Smith could go about translating something as abstract as poetry. With all of the figurative language, symbolism, and "fanciful" kind of language involved in it, I just didn't know how that would translate across languages. Smith mentioned in the intro that she aimed to capture the "essence" of the poem, and that cleared some of it up. I wish there was a literal translation available (in English) so I could interpret/ask questions about specific choices Smith made.
The allusions to Walt Whitman definitely surprised me, because I was both unaware that he was globally famous in such a way, and I figured a Chinese poet would be referenced instead? At first, I thought the reference to Whitman was an English-speaker's replacement for some ultra-famous Chinese poet, but then towards the end of the PDF, there are English translations of the Chinese that read the names of some of Whitman's most famous poems (I Sing the Body Electric, Song of Myself, etc.). I see similarities between Whitman and Wei, and I would love to know if Tracy K. Smith is a Whitman fan, and if she sees those similarities, too. I wonder if that influences her translation at all.
Sarah
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