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The Butterfly in honored Dust Assuredly will lie But none will pass the Catacomb So chastened as the Fly-- - Emily Dickinson |
Dying butterfly never dies, never dies Dying butterfly never dies, never dies Dying butterfly never dies, never dies - Malcolm Mooney |
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QiQQW
So begins the book of one "Master Solemn" (Zhuang Zhou, 莊子). The thirty-three chapters that follow are many things (profound, hilarious, mischievous, cunning, beautiful) and may be approached in many ways. My own interest in the Zhuangzi is itself several, but it has particular appeal to me as a work of trans philosophy. Though transgender individuals make no explicit appearance in the text (however tempting one familiar with the effects of exogenous estrogen might find it to offer a certain explanation of the strikingly fair skin of one Lady Solitary...), the ethos of the text is unmistakable. From the opening image of a giant egg-fish that transforms into a giant bird to Zhou's dream of being a butterfly, the text recommends an unfettered openness to transformation. Supporting this is a close analysis and critique of the ways in which fetters arise. Zhuangzi speaks frequently from the margins of early Warring States Chinese society (the criminal, the disabled, the ugly), not to critique the center as such, nor to show that there is wisdom at the margins, but instead to illustrate the inherent instability of our attempts to separate center and margin at all.
Beyond its philosophical value, the Zhuangzi is a literary treasure. It is my view that none of the existing translations does sufficient justice to its beauty. So I have, wisely or unwisely, decided to attempt to translate it myself. I have chosen to translate it into verse. While the original is predominantly in "prose" (according to the prose/verse distinction of Warring States China), I do not think this speaks against a verse translation in English. The prose/verse distinction is not an eternal thought in the mind of god (as William Carlos Williams knew), the same across all languages and contexts. Contemporary English "prose" is not the obvious default for translating the ornately literary Classical Chinese "prose" of the Zhuangzi. Attempting a verse translation of the Zhuangzi may or may not be viable, but it must be judged on the merits, and cannot be ruled out a priori.
Current status of the translation: I have completed a draft translation of the first seven chapters, the so-called "inner chapters", traditionally though unpersuasively attributed to Zhuang Zhou himself. I have tentatively found a publisher—more details to come. In the meantime, the current version of the translation is available by request; just send me an email.
Future plans: I do intend to translate the entire work, eventually, though the completion of that project is probably many years out yet. I also have something of a one-sided rivalry with Ezra Pound (self-consciously Confucian poet that he was); since he produced a wonderful "translation" of the Book of Odes, I may have to do the same with the Elegies of Chu...
Research: It is difficult to translate a work without coming to have strong opinions about its contents. Occasionally, I write (or attempt to write) papers (or similar) detailing aspects of my interpretation of the Zhuangzi. These include:
So begins the book of one "Master Solemn" (Zhuang Zhou, 莊子). The thirty-three chapters that follow are many things (profound, hilarious, mischievous, cunning, beautiful) and may be approached in many ways. My own interest in the Zhuangzi is itself several, but it has particular appeal to me as a work of trans philosophy. Though transgender individuals make no explicit appearance in the text (however tempting one familiar with the effects of exogenous estrogen might find it to offer a certain explanation of the strikingly fair skin of one Lady Solitary...), the ethos of the text is unmistakable. From the opening image of a giant egg-fish that transforms into a giant bird to Zhou's dream of being a butterfly, the text recommends an unfettered openness to transformation. Supporting this is a close analysis and critique of the ways in which fetters arise. Zhuangzi speaks frequently from the margins of early Warring States Chinese society (the criminal, the disabled, the ugly), not to critique the center as such, nor to show that there is wisdom at the margins, but instead to illustrate the inherent instability of our attempts to separate center and margin at all.
Beyond its philosophical value, the Zhuangzi is a literary treasure. It is my view that none of the existing translations does sufficient justice to its beauty. So I have, wisely or unwisely, decided to attempt to translate it myself. I have chosen to translate it into verse. While the original is predominantly in "prose" (according to the prose/verse distinction of Warring States China), I do not think this speaks against a verse translation in English. The prose/verse distinction is not an eternal thought in the mind of god (as William Carlos Williams knew), the same across all languages and contexts. Contemporary English "prose" is not the obvious default for translating the ornately literary Classical Chinese "prose" of the Zhuangzi. Attempting a verse translation of the Zhuangzi may or may not be viable, but it must be judged on the merits, and cannot be ruled out a priori.
Current status of the translation: I have completed a draft translation of the first seven chapters, the so-called "inner chapters", traditionally though unpersuasively attributed to Zhuang Zhou himself. I have tentatively found a publisher—more details to come. In the meantime, the current version of the translation is available by request; just send me an email.
Future plans: I do intend to translate the entire work, eventually, though the completion of that project is probably many years out yet. I also have something of a one-sided rivalry with Ezra Pound (self-consciously Confucian poet that he was); since he produced a wonderful "translation" of the Book of Odes, I may have to do the same with the Elegies of Chu...
Research: It is difficult to translate a work without coming to have strong opinions about its contents. Occasionally, I write (or attempt to write) papers (or similar) detailing aspects of my interpretation of the Zhuangzi. These include:
- Three Ways of Looking at a Big Bird: In which I offer an interpretation of the opening passage of the book, arguing that it asks the reader to simultaneously hold three inconsistent interpretations of its central figure, the giant Peng bird. [Scholarly essay; draft available on request]
- Your Years Are Many, Yet Your Hue Is as a Babe's—How?: The Trans Zhuangzi: In which I attempt to make my case for reading the Zhuangzi as a work of trans philosophy. [Non-scholarly essay; draft available on request]
- Speaking is not Puffing: In which I attempt to make sense of the argumentative structure of the Qiwulun as a treatise on dispute resolution, and use this to understand its apparently skeptical and relativistic arguments. [Conference talk; not yet ready to share but I'll talk about it]
- Free and Easy Conversing: In which Liam Kofi Bright and I debate the significance of the famous happy fish passage, which we use as a window into broader epistemological themes in the Zhuangzi. [Dialogue; PDF link]