Kenneth Rex Roth And Du Fu: From Translation To Creation

Kenneth Rexroth venerates Tu Fu very much. In the eye of Rexroth, Tu Fu is the greatest non-epic, non dramatic poet who had survived in any language. As an anarchist, what Rexroth admires most in Tu Fu are the qualities of intimacy and nature instead of the concern about the destiny of the country and the Confucianism. Rexroth translated thirty-six Tu Fu's poems. By his translating criterion, he has chosen only those poems which are simple and direct, with a minimum of allusion to past literature or contemporary politics, in other words, poems that speak to him of situations in life like his own. Rexroth's translating conception is free. He believes that the translation of poetry into poetry is an act of sympathy—the identification of another person with oneself, the transference of his utterance to one's own utterance. The ideal translator should communicate directly to his own audiences. In his opinion, translation can not express the spirit of the original text completely. So his poems always have a kind of creative treason. One Hundred Poems from the Chinese is accepted by American readers. Rexroth reinvents a new image of Tu Fu by translating and adapting, which is a Chinese ancient poet who corresponds with western reader's values and aesthetic interests.This thesis consists of three chapters. The introduction mainly introduces Rexroth's life history and literary works, and analyzes his position in the realm of American poetry. Although he doesn't get great reputation as a poet, as a culture transmitter and a promoter for new poetry style, Rexroth plays an important role in American literary world.Chapter One introduces the relation between Rexroth and Chinese culture and poetry. He has been very a continuous admirer of Chinese culture and art since his adolescence. He has published four translation anthologies of Chinese poems, and has written many imitative poems. Chinese poems influenced Rexroth's original work inevitably, in which there are many Chinese images and elements. Chapter Two is the chief part of this thesis. This part discusses the dissertation and the translation for Tu Fu's poems by Rexroth, and the intensive relationship between the two poets. By analyzing the translation in language and art aspect, discuss Rexroth's strategy and choice in translating, and find the creative treason in his translation. Chapter Three analyzes Tu Fu's influence on Rexroth's creation. Many of Rexroth's works have features of Chinese ancient poems. Although it is a total edification by Chinese culture and literature, the influence by Tu Fu is absolutely the most important to him. The influence includes imitating Chinese poetry's images and themes, using Chinese poetry's writing patterns and syntax, integrating the translations into his original works, and writing Tu Fu into poems directly.The Conclusion fully summarizes the Tu Fu complex of Rexroth, and researches that why Rexroth is so interested in a Chinese ancient poet as an American modern poet.