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A review by spacestationtrustfund
Cold Mountain Poems: Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-chih by Hanshan
2.0
This review is of the translation by J.P. Seaton.
J.P. Seaton translated 95 poems attributed to the Cold Mountain poet, as well as 20 poems by Shide and 27 by Wang Fanzhi. The original Chinese text is not included, although Seaton does offer 25 pages of notes (at the end of the book) covering around half of the poems. His translation is not in and of itself bad, per se, although I wouldn't recommend it over other translations by Robert G. Henricks, Paul Rouzer, Kazuaki Tanahashi & Peter Levitt, Bill Porter (alias Red Pine), or even Burton Watson. If you're looking for a book specifically about the Cold Mountain poems, as opposed to a relevant anthology, I'd recommend one of the above listed translations, all of which include the vast majority if not the entirety of the poems currently attributed to the Cold Mountain poet. Because Seaton doesn't even include a third of that number, I'd really only recommend this translation to someone who was already familiar with the Cold Mountain poems and interested in reading different translators' interpretations.
Seaton's translation was first published in 2009, but still uses the Wade-Giles romanisation system (i.e., "Shih Te" for Shide; "Wang Fan-chih" for Wang Fanzhi) instead of hanyu pinyin. I don't care for that shit at all. The introduction is interesting, delving into the history of "Han Shan" and "Shide" as poetic pseudonyms for multiple poets and probably a rather varied group spanning around three centuries. Seaton's translations tend to adopt a more colloquial tone (cf. "took a piss" from his XXIX) than is usually applied to classical Chinese poetry translated into English, which I don't necessarily think is an inaccurate depiction of the tone of the original poems. For example, the poem Seaton marks as II:
Another poem, which Seaton (correctly) numbers as IX:
J.P. Seaton translated 95 poems attributed to the Cold Mountain poet, as well as 20 poems by Shide and 27 by Wang Fanzhi. The original Chinese text is not included, although Seaton does offer 25 pages of notes (at the end of the book) covering around half of the poems. His translation is not in and of itself bad, per se, although I wouldn't recommend it over other translations by Robert G. Henricks, Paul Rouzer, Kazuaki Tanahashi & Peter Levitt, Bill Porter (alias Red Pine), or even Burton Watson. If you're looking for a book specifically about the Cold Mountain poems, as opposed to a relevant anthology, I'd recommend one of the above listed translations, all of which include the vast majority if not the entirety of the poems currently attributed to the Cold Mountain poet. Because Seaton doesn't even include a third of that number, I'd really only recommend this translation to someone who was already familiar with the Cold Mountain poems and interested in reading different translators' interpretations.
Seaton's translation was first published in 2009, but still uses the Wade-Giles romanisation system (i.e., "Shih Te" for Shide; "Wang Fan-chih" for Wang Fanzhi) instead of hanyu pinyin. I don't care for that shit at all. The introduction is interesting, delving into the history of "Han Shan" and "Shide" as poetic pseudonyms for multiple poets and probably a rather varied group spanning around three centuries. Seaton's translations tend to adopt a more colloquial tone (cf. "took a piss" from his XXIX) than is usually applied to classical Chinese poetry translated into English, which I don't necessarily think is an inaccurate depiction of the tone of the original poems. For example, the poem Seaton marks as II:
Cold Mountain Road’s a joke,This particular poem is typically numbered as III in the Cold Mountain anthology. This is the original text:
no cart track, no horse trail.
Creeks like veins, but still it’s hard to mark
the twists. Fields and fields of crags for crops,
it’s hard to say how many.
Tears of dew upon a thousand kinds of grasses;
the wind sings best in one kind of pine.
And now I’ve lost my way again:
Body asking shadow, “Which way from here?”
可笑寒山道，而無車馬蹤。
聯谿難記曲，疊嶂不知重。
泣露千般草，吟風一樣松。
此時迷徑處，形問影何從。
laugh- / -able / Cold / Mountain / way, / yet / no / vehicle- / -horse / trace.For comparison Paul Rouzer translates this poem thusly:
join / stream / difficult / remember / song, / stacked- / -peaks / not / know / weight.
weep / dew / thousand / type / grass, / chant or moan / wind / one- / -way / pine tree.
right- / -now / lost / path / reside, / form / ask / shadow / what / follow.
Delightful is the road to Cold Mountain—Seaton more literally translates 可笑 (risible), but Rouzer correctly gets the meaning, i.e., the 道 (way) to Cold Mountain is ridiculous(ly easy to navigate), yet there are no 車馬 (carts and horses). Apart from the tricky aspect of the first line, Seaton's translation is notably inaccurate; "creeks like veins" is his own invention, as is "fields and fields of crags for crops": I genuinely have no idea where he got that from, since 疊嶂 (stacked peaks, lit. "fold / cliff") refers to mountain peaks in an irregular or jagged formation.
And yet there is no trace of cart or horse.
Impossible to keep track of this network of ravines,
Or to know how many layers of doubled cliffs.
Weeping dew—a thousand kinds of plant;
Moaning in the wind—a solid stretch of pines.
This is when you lose your path,
And your form asks your shadow where to go.
Another poem, which Seaton (correctly) numbers as IX:
People ask about the Cold Mountain way:I previously dissected this particular poem when talking about the translations by Burton Watson and Tanahashi & Levitt. Seaton, interestingly, seems to get the joke in the first line (that 道 can mean either a spiritual way or a literal road), but later on adds an entire "hidden dragon" that is most definitely not present in the original poem. The general feeling of the poem is accurate enough, setting aside the dragon, although Seaton makes a few minor modifications, such as "middle of the summer" (the original said 夏天 summer season) or "you'd be here already" (the original said 还得到其中 you'd be able to reach the "centre").
plain roads don’t get through to Cold Mountain.
Middle of the summer, and the ice still hasn’t melted.
Sunrise, and the mist would blind a hidden dragon.
So, how could a man like me get here?
My heart is not the same as yours, dear sir...
If your heart were like mine,
you’d be here already.