Intersections, Interactions, Integrations: Chronological Entanglement of a Chinese Poem

Main author: Bruno, Cosima
Other authors: Yan, Lianjun
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-39659
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description This article explores a contemporary Chinese poem, Zhang Zao's “Dadi zhi ge,” as an intermedial translation of an intermedial source text—Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (musical and verbal). The article's aim is threefold: to enhance appreciation of the Chinese poem, to understand what intermedial translation means in practice, and to draw from this analytical exploration theoretical propositions that can help us reconceptualize literary belonging and cross-cultural encounters. Zhang Zao's “Dadi zhi ge” helps us move from a notion of translation as something that deals with the problem of the incommensurability of the material conditions of languages to one of translation as transcending such incommensurability. In fact, the poem is here to be considered as both an original and a translation at the same time. Primary questions include: Where does this poem begin? What does this poem translate? What's behind the choice of the source text? A metaphor underscoring our exploration is that of the “skein of yarn” (Calvino) or of the spinning of a “thread” (Wittgenstein)—that is, an image reporting on relational theories of literature, history, and translation.
format Journal Article
author Bruno, Cosima
author_facet Bruno, Cosima
Yan, Lianjun
authorStr Bruno, Cosima
author_letter Bruno, Cosima
author2 Yan, Lianjun
author2Str Yan, Lianjun
title Intersections, Interactions, Integrations: Chronological Entanglement of a Chinese Poem
publisher Duke University Press
publishDate 2023
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/39659/