Jee Leong Koh's translation

Ruoyi.zhang 

It's so nice that I got a copy of his translation work on paper before the talk, I barely took notes on paper recently. So, this time we learned about Haiku. I was still confused that Jee Leong Koh was more of an author than someone who should have appeared on a translator talk, but then he explained that he was just a minor author and hadn't won many awards--it's really hard to make a mark in translation.Not only that, before this talk, I even thought Jee Leong Koh had passed away, as described in the book - choked to death on everything bagel (yes I didn't finish the book). However, it seems to be found from his speeches that haiku takes a small proportion: for him, haiku is just the simplest and briefest form of poetry "I can write in my mind right now". It seems that he does not speak Japanese and has not learned how to write such poems deeply but just basic rules. His perspective seemed somewhat limited, although he later discussed his exploration of sonnets, indicating a broader engagement with various poetic forms. Interestingly, his talk served as a unique entry point into dialogue, embodying the essence of his book's identity as an Asian voice distinct from previous North American translators. But the little information I could glean from it, most of it came from later Q&A, including keeping distance between the characters and himself, the way character were chosen to be a hybridization of jewish and japanese identity is just because they are interesting to him, and observe to write about natural and season.

I had anticipated his response when he was asked why didn't sign Haiku he wrote under his name. Given the political climate in the United States, a Singaporean delving into Haiku, a form not native to their culture, might face scrutiny and criticism. Finally, I found the title of his book intriguing, and I think the interesting title is one of the keys to the success of the book. As he said, snow at 5 pm comes from the last poem, just like snow was coming and no work to be done. 

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