Abstract
The poem “Jiu bian” 九辯 (Nine phases) in the Chuci 楚辭 (Elegies of Chu) is an influential and much-cited work of the Chinese literary tradition, but poses a special challenge for Western readers. It is attributed to a shadowy figure named Song Yu 宋玉 whose lacuna of a biography provides no useful context for reading it, so it is hard to identify the motives behind it or describe its original reception. Moreover, the poem is loosely structured and it is hard to identify any clear narrative arc, while at the level of individual lines it is frequently obscure, aside from a few brilliant passages at the beginning. Yet reading the entire poem as a whole, it is possible to make sense of it and appreciate its subtle communication of deep emotions, even if it appears incoherent by some objective criteria. The author of a new translation of the entire anthology discusses the process of translating the piece, and how he came better to appreciate its meaning in a series of stages. Like the long, repetitive, and circular poem itself, the process of translation is a process that requires multiple attempts, each of which is incomplete and yet provides a new glimpse of the work as a whole.
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Notes
- 1.
For a detailed account of the Chuci shiwen and the significance of this alternative arrangement, see Chan (1998).
- 2.
This paper is based on my translation of the entire Elegies of Chu (Chuci 楚辭) anthology, which is forthcoming from Oxford World’s Classics.
E.g., Huang Wenhuan’s 黃文煥 (1598–1667) Chuci tingzhi 楚辭聽直, or in modern times Jiang Liangfu’s 姜亮夫 Qu Yuan fu jiaozhu 屈原賦校注.
- 3.
As in “Li sao,” line 145, and “Heavenly Questions” #34, information further corroborated by the Classic of Mountains and Seas: “Beyond the southwestern seas, south of the Cinnabar River, west of the Drifting Sands, there is a man who suspends from his ears two green snakes, and rides upon two dragons. His name is Xiahou Kai [taboo variant of Qi 啟]. Kai thrice went to offer brides to Heaven, came back down with the ‘Nine Phases’ and ‘Nine Songs.’ This is the field of Tianmu, which is two thousand miles high, and it was there that Kai first began to sing the ‘Nine Summons.’” 西南海之外, 赤水之南, 流沙之西, 有人珥兩青蛇, 乘兩龍, 名曰夏后開 。開上三嬪于天, 得九辯與九歌以下。此天穆之野, 高二千仞, 開焉得始歌九招. See Yuan (2013, 16.349).
- 4.
Here I borrow the terminology of Chan Chok Meng 陳竹茗 in his studies of the song 頌 genre.
- 5.
Though there is an ambiguity there in the term “Peng Xian” 彭咸, which probably refers originally to transcendence, but at some point takes on a simultaneous reference to suicide by drowning (Williams 2018b).
- 6.
There is also an alternative view that this piece is due to Qu Yuan. Cao Zhi quoted lines 231–32 from the poem, attributing them to Qu Ping (see Zhao 1984, 3.446). But this is best understood as a natural consequence of an inherent tendency for all kinds of compositions to gravitate toward attribution to the most prominent author available. See also Li Zhi’s perceptive criticisms (Li 2005, 135–36).
- 7.
And affirmed by modern scholar Wang Chia-hsin, who has an expert analysis of all the previous divisions made by previous scholars in Wang (1986, 43–57). Liu Yongji in Qu fu tongjian had the useful insight of breaking up the ninth section of Hong Xingzu’s division, which was excessively long (Liu 2010).
- 8.
This is one point where I differ from Li Zhi in his study Chuci yu zhonggu wenxian kaoshuo. Li argues that all the poems in the Chuci anthology are written in the voice of Qu Yuan, but I see this piece and some later ones as being more in the voice of an admirer of Qu Yuan, a lesser figure who lacks the aristocratic authority and the righteous independence of a Qu Yuan.
- 9.
The geese call out harmoniously in Songs 34/3: “On one note the wild-geese cry, / A cloudless dawn begins to break. / A knight that brings home his bride / Must do so before the ice melts.”
- 10.
For the contrast between a “parting in life” and a “parting by death” see “Nine Songs: Lesser Controller of Destinies,” line 13.
- 11.
Cf. “Li sao,” lines 89–92.
- 12.
The meaning of this line is slightly obscure since the subject is omitted. The Chuci zhangju commentary mentions the example of Jizi 箕子, worthy advisor to the last king of Shang, who pretended to have gone mad so as to evade persecution.
- 13.
This couplet is making a coherent point in very compressed fashion. Even birds and beasts are well aware of the de (sometimes “virtue,” but here obligation due in response to merit or favor) owed to them. Why should a worthy vassal continue to reside at court if his merit is not recognized, due favor not given? But the sense is hard to express within the confines of the sao meter. See Wang Fuzhi’s paraphrase for a heartfelt appreciation of this couplet (Wang 2011, 8.384).
- 14.
In explanation of the quietude, the Chuci zhangju commentary cites the example of Ning Wu in Analects 5/21, who feigned stupidity when the country was in disorder. The word duan 端 is difficult. I have rendered it as “new trial” since “initiation” is one possible meaning. It might potentially be a loan for chuan 喘, “to gasp.”
- 15.
I follow Huang Linggeng’s suggestion that shangxing 尚幸 is an error for changyang 徜徉. Huang (2007, 2.661).
- 16.
Shen Baoxu was the Chu nobleman who stayed to fight for Chu when Wu Zixu departed, and later successfully pled with Qin to lend Chu support.
- 17.
Songs 112/1 says that a noble man does not enjoy the “bread of idleness,” meaning that he does not consume the crops produced by workers without laboring himself: “If you did not hunt, if you did not chase, / One would not see all those badgers hanging in your courtyard. / No, indeed, that lord / Does not feed on the bread of idleness.” (Waley 1996, 87).
- 18.
Hong Xingzu cites the Book of Rites: “The scholar is not cast down, or cut from his root, by poverty and mean condition; he is not satisfied or sated by riches and noble condition” (modified from Legge 1885, 2:409). Though other scholars have questioned this parallel, the general sense of the Rites quotation is particularly apt to the context of “Nine Phases.”
- 19.
The first hemistich of line 168 is the same as that of line 63 above, an interesting use of formulaic language. Cf. stanza 14 of “Heavenly Questions” for the usage of chi
. - 20.
He Jianxun suggests that yaoyue 搖悅 is just a graphic variant for yuyue 愉悅 (He 1994, 289).
- 21.
Cf. Qu Yuan’s lotus garb in “Li sao,” line 113. My interpretation of this line follows Wang Fuzhi (Wang 2011, 8.392).
- 22.
These four lines also occur in “Nine Avowals: Lamenting Ying,” lines 57–60.
- 23.
Because only a ruler who has the confidence of his advisors and the people will succeed, regardless of his military might.
- 24.
Cf. “Li sao,” lines 295–96.
- 25.
The Vermilion Bird is the symbolic deity of the south, and the Azure Dragon of the east. This passage represents the triumphant procession of the hero and his attendants, recapitulating the cosmic journey in the “Li sao” in miniature, until at the end the hero turns back toward home, duty, and king.
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Williams, N.M. (2022). Translating Song Yu’s Jiu Bian: Phases of Appreciative Perception. In: Qi, L., Tobias, S. (eds) Encountering China’s Past. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0648-0_14
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