Galleries and Translations > Models of Masterpieces > Modelling and English Translation of Sun Guoting's "A Narrative on Calligraphy" 孫過庭 《書譜》之臨習與英譯
Modelling and English Translation of Sun Guoting's "A Narrative on Calligraphy"
(Part XI)
by Kwan Sheung Vincent POON (潘君尚)
Mar. 14, 2018
Published on www.vincentpoon.com, Toronto
A. Modelling (by KS Vincent POON)
A model of Sun Guoting's "A Narrative on Calligraphy" (Part I)
臨孫過庭《書譜》 (第一部份)
35 X 137cm (11)
Click to Enlarge. In reserve, not available in Shop.
B. Historical Information
Please see Part I
Readers are strongly encouraged to read the blue numerical footnotes below to gain a better understanding of the original Chinese text and to review some major errors in the translations made by others.
English Translation
Original Chinese Text
I have heard that for a man to be capable of deliberating the qualities of elegant women, his home must first have a lady whose appearance resembles the beauty of Nan Wei (南威,306); or for one to discussing how swords hack and slash (斷割,307), one must first possess a sharp weapon like the legendary sword of Long Quan (龍泉,308).(309)
262. 聞夫家有南威之容，乃可論於淑媛；有龍泉之利，然後議於斷割。
When one’s speech goes beyond one’s capacity and experiences, it is detrimental to both one’s words and moral conduct (實累樞機,310).
263. 語過其分，實累樞機。
I once produced a work of calligraphy with all my attention, thought it was fairly good, and then presented it to those who were, at the time, supposedly “knowledgeable” in the art:
264. 吾嘗盡思作書，謂為甚合; 時稱識者，輒以引示：
FOR LINES 265-290,
PLEASE PURCHASE THE REVISED AND ENHANCED EDITION WITH FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:
265.其中巧麗，曾不留目；或有誤失，翻被嗟賞。
266. 既昧所見，尤喻所聞；或以年職自高，輕致陵誚。
267. 余乃假之以緗縹，題之以古目。
268. 則賢者改觀，愚夫繼聲；競賞豪末之奇，罕議峯端之失。
269. 猶惠侯之好偽，似葉公之懼真。
270. 是知伯子之息流波，蓋有由矣。
271. 夫蔡邕不謬賞，孫陽不妄顧者，以其玄鑒精通，故不滯於耳目也。
272. 向使奇音在爨，庸聽驚其妙響；
273. 逸足伏櫪，凡識知其絕羣；
274. 則伯喈不足稱，良樂未可尚也。
275. 至若老姥遇題扇，初怨而後請；
276. 門生獲書機，父削而子懊。知與不知也。
277. 夫士屈于不知己，而申於知己。
278. 彼不知也，曷足怪乎?！
279. 故莊子曰：「朝菌不知晦朔，蟪蛄不知春秋。」
280. 老子云：「下士聞道，大咲之；不咲之則不足以為道也。」
281. 豈可執冰而咎夏蟲哉?！
282. 自漢魏已來，論書者多矣。妍蚩雜糅，條目糾紛：
283. 或重述舊章，了不殊於既往；
284. 或苟興新說，竟無益於將來。
285. 徒使繁者彌繁，闕者仍闕。
286. 今撰為六篇，分成兩卷。第其工用，名曰書譜。
287. 庶使一家後進，奉以規模；
288. 四海知音，或存觀省。
289. 緘祕之旨，余無取焉。
FOR FURTHER TRANSLATION, FOOTNOTES, AND
ELABORATIONS
PLEASE SEE :
A Narrative on Calligraphy by Sun Guoting Revised and Enchanced Edition 英譯書譜 增訂版Translated by KS Vincent POON and Kwok Kin POON (Mar. 2019)
ISBN 978-1-989485-10-1
A Narrative on Calligraphy (Shu Pu, 書譜) was written in 687AD by the renowned Tang dynasty calligrapher Sun Guoting (孫過庭) of the seventh century and is regarded to be one of the most important narratives in examining the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy. Yet, there is currently no satisfactory English translation of it. This book provides readers an accurate, annotated, line-by-line, consistent and comprehensive English translation of A Narrative on Calligraphy. Furthermore, various major and fundamental mistakes found in the two previous English translations by Chang & Frankel and De Laurentis are detailed and discussed.
This book is the revised and enhanced version of the previous book and delivers an even more precise translation with 20 titled thematic paragraphs that is based on Dr. Kwok Kin POON’s The Vernacular Chinese Translation of Sun Guoting’s A Narrative on Calligraphy (孫過庭書譜白話對譯. Toronto: The SenSeis, Feb. 2019).
WorldCat/Library: [WorldCat] [Oxford U] [U of T] [Harvard U] [Columbia U] [HKU] [CUHK] [Kyoto U] [National Taiwan U]
290. 垂拱三年寫記。
THE END (Mar. 14, 2018)