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Title: The Debt of Tears (The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 4) by Cao Xuequin, Cao Xueqin, E. Gao, John Minford ISBN: 0-14-044371-1 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1982 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good Attempt on Translating difficult Chinese
Comment: I have just finished reading the Chinese Version of the story (which I would rate as 5 stars), and thought, although the English Version is pretty accurate, it somehow lacks the fluency the story should have. Because of the difficulty for foreign people to imagine the situation, readers are not involved in the story as much and is therefore less effective than some books like the Wild Swan. The translation has definitely lost some tastes from the Chinese version. However if you are a foreigner who wants to explore Chinese culture, or a person who does not understand written Chinese very well (like me), this is still the book to read,for this is a book that can endure repeated reading such that one can inevitably find more and more traces of Cao Xueqin's ingenuity.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good translation, but...
Comment: The attractions of this translation are numerous -- which is fortunate for a book that, in total, weigns in at 2500 pages. Most people will enjoy the stylish prose and exquisite interjections of poetry, but you is urged to read sample pages before investing the full measure of your time. While entertaining and quite appealing, this translatoin has its flaws -- and they have been pointed out by several native Chinese translators. The prose is here littered wtih Briticisms that seem almost anarchronistic at times. Xueqin's cultural and literary references, which profoundly enrich the book, are passed over without even a footnote (though the introduction is illuminating). The careful reader may even feel that they are missing the context and mood of the original book. If your interest in this masterpiece is for its fundamental merits -- storytelling, characterization, beauty of language -- then you will find this a pleasure, and you need look no further. If you wish a deeper sense of the Chinese mood of the work, then the four-volume translation may be more attractive.
Rating: 5
Summary: Best Chinese novel of all time!
Comment: Well, in my opinion anyway. David Hawkes has done an amazing job translating this brilliant 18th-century novel into colloquial modern English. I have read all the translations-- this is my favorite novel, and this is by far the best version for an English speaker who just wants a good book. I can imagine that a Chinese reader could pick holes in this translation, as I could nitpick at a translation of Shakespeare-- the wealth of the original is impossible to transfer whole into another language and culture. If you want a word-for-word translation so you can use this as a study guide while you read the Chinese, maybe the wooden Beijing Languages version could help you! But I have a hard time imagining any new translation being more vivid and fun to read than this one. Yes, it is littered with sometimes annoying Britishisms. That is the price of a colloquial translation! It's true that Hawkes does not explain all the references-- that would be another book in itself. And I am sure he made mistakes-- I help a French translator occasionally and even though he is very well-versed in English, it is so easy for him to miss something that only a cultured native speaker could pick up. But this translation is ALIVE. Until that perfect translation comes along one day, Hawkes's is still better than all the others. Be grateful to him! (2003)
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Title: The Dreamer Wakes (The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 5) by Cao Xuequin, Cao Xueqin, E. Gao, Gao E ISBN: 014044372X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1986 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Six Records of a Floating Life (Penguin Classics) by Shen Fu, Leonard Pratt, Chiang Su-Hui ISBN: 0140444297 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1983 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei by David Tod Roy ISBN: 0691016143 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 17 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $37.50 |
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Title: Monkey/Folk Novel of China by Ch'Eng-En Wu, Arthur Waley ISBN: 0802130860 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Tale of Genji (PENGUIN CLASSICS) by Murasaki Shikibu, Royall Tyler ISBN: 014243714X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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