C.G. Furst (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} theclownhunt) wrote,@ 2007-03-13 20:53:00 |
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Forest of Stone Steles
Over the weekend I saw an exhibition at Cornell's Johnson Museum of the artist Wenda Gu's "Forest of Stone Steles," and it's been haunting my waking life ever since. Gu chose several Tang-era poems that had been translated into English (by Witter Bynner), then searched for Chinese sounds that were similar to the sounds of the English words and retranslated the poem into Chinese. And then he went further and re-translated the resulting poem into English. Each poem is carved onto a dark slate stele that weighs 1.3 tons.
Here's one example:
"A Note on a Rainy Night to a Friend in the North" by Li Shangyin, Tang Dynasty:
You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night
with the rain.
Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your
western window?
When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?
(以 Witter Bynner 的唐詩英譯本 Jade mountain 之英語讀音的同聲漢字譯回成中文)
誘鰲時刻迷魂，隘門空明。
靄渡鬧踢駑，癌菌磨蝮藥。
虻騰煽毒燈，剖獅捕狸命。
鰲吶吐胃，逝者然。
哦！
混血兒妣娶螟，尾蝌麝肝，酡虼日飲。
喲！
歪寺痛蚊抖，蚊笑鮞愛，婢害鯪。
鷂服蜴四更，哪聽得嚷。
(Retranslated to English by Wenda Gu)
The soul is bewildered when the huge, legendary turtle is induced. Grinding pit viper with cancer fungus, an inferior horse kicks at the misty harbour. Rip open a lion to rescue the fox. The legendary turtle screams and throws up its stomach , then dies without pain. Oh! An interracialbaby is born with a tadpole tail and musk deer liver of the marriage between a slave girl and a snout moth's larva. The flea is flushed down with a day's drink. Oh! In a leaning temple a wounded mosquito shakes and another laughs at a loving fish. A dead mother kills a pangolin. No scream is heard when a hawk eats the lizard before dawn.
I love the surreal and grotesque transformations. Traduttore, traditore.
And here's the link to Wenda Gu's website: http://www.wendagu.com/home.html
Over the weekend I saw an exhibition at Cornell's Johnson Museum of the artist Wenda Gu's "Forest of Stone Steles," and it's been haunting my waking life ever since. Gu chose several Tang-era poems that had been translated into English (by Witter Bynner), then searched for Chinese sounds that were similar to the sounds of the English words and retranslated the poem into Chinese. And then he went further and re-translated the resulting poem into English. Each poem is carved onto a dark slate stele that weighs 1.3 tons.
Here's one example:
"A Note on a Rainy Night to a Friend in the North" by Li Shangyin, Tang Dynasty:
You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night
with the rain.
Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your
western window?
When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?
(以 Witter Bynner 的唐詩英譯本 Jade mountain 之英語讀音的同聲漢字譯回成中文)
誘鰲時刻迷魂，隘門空明。
靄渡鬧踢駑，癌菌磨蝮藥。
虻騰煽毒燈，剖獅捕狸命。
鰲吶吐胃，逝者然。
哦！
混血兒妣娶螟，尾蝌麝肝，酡虼日飲。
喲！
歪寺痛蚊抖，蚊笑鮞愛，婢害鯪。
鷂服蜴四更，哪聽得嚷。
(Retranslated to English by Wenda Gu)
The soul is bewildered when the huge, legendary turtle is induced. Grinding pit viper with cancer fungus, an inferior horse kicks at the misty harbour. Rip open a lion to rescue the fox. The legendary turtle screams and throws up its stomach , then dies without pain. Oh! An interracialbaby is born with a tadpole tail and musk deer liver of the marriage between a slave girl and a snout moth's larva. The flea is flushed down with a day's drink. Oh! In a leaning temple a wounded mosquito shakes and another laughs at a loving fish. A dead mother kills a pangolin. No scream is heard when a hawk eats the lizard before dawn.
I love the surreal and grotesque transformations. Traduttore, traditore.
And here's the link to Wenda Gu's website: http://www.wendagu.com/home.html
