LI BAIS ”JING YE SI” – REFLEKTIONER ÖVER NITTON ÖVERSÄTTNINGAR TILL ENGELSKA

Abstract

”Jing ye si” is one of Li Bai’s best-known poems. The present essay looks at nineteen of its many translations into English. The essay offers a brief overview of how the ways of translating this poem have shifted over time, but its main focus is on special problems arising in translating ”Jing ye si” and on the solutions found by the various translators. Among other things, translators face the task of deciding how to manage the absence of tense and pronouns in the Chinese original, and how to resolve two ambiguities in its last line, and, not least, how to do justice to Li Bai’s poem as an artistic whole. The essay does not rest on the presupposition that there is a correct theory of translation, or a true meaning of a verbal composition, or a truth about what is a good or bad translation. Arguments in these matters can always be put forward, and it may even be possible to reach a consensus, but consensus and truth are different things. Translations are certainly criticized or praised in the essay, but always against this theoretical background.