The Book of Jade

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 49K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Le livre de Jade by Judith GautierAuthor: ,Language: French, Class: PL: Language and Literatures: Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania, Release Date: Sep 10, 2014

Editor's review

Le Livre de Jade is Judith Gautier's celebrated attempt to recast classical Chinese poetry in French. It does not aim for word-for-word fidelity; instead, it rearranges imagery, rhythm, and mood in the spirit of nineteenth-century French Symbolism, shaping moon, wine, boat, parting, and boudoir lament into an exotic and exquisite lyric space. Its value today lies not in "restoring Chinese poetry" but in showing how cross-cultural translation generates a new literary text: the original's concision is expanded in French, allusions are softened, and emotions are unified into a slightly sentimental Oriental imagination. For readers of comparative literature, translation studies, and French poetry, it is an intriguing specimen; for general readers, it can be dipped into as a collection of short prose poems. When reading, it is worth setting it beside Three Hundred Tang Poems or relevant English translations, noting which images are retained and which are rewritten, so as to appreciate both the writing and the traces of cultural transposition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Chinese-French literary translation and cross-cultural rewriting
Lovers of French Symbolist poetry and Oriental-themed literature
Students of comparative literature or translation practice who need case studies
General readers who want a light-reading introduction to Chinese classical poetry in foreign translation

Not a good fit for

Readers of classical poetry seeking faithful, line-by-line bilingual editions
Researchers who need accurate understanding of Chinese poetic allusions and prosody
Beginners with weak French who do not wish to rely on bilingual editions

Reading tips

Choose a few familiar Tang poems and read them alongside this French rewriting, noting differences in imagery and tone.
Treat it as a short poetry collection, reading two or three pieces a day without seeking narrative continuity; focus on the French lyric rhythm.
Read an introduction or translator's preface first to understand Gautier's rewriting context before entering the text, so as not to mistake it for a strict translation.
Read short passages aloud in French, attending to pauses and assonance; skip cultural proper nouns at first and look them up together afterward.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is Le Livre de Jade a strict translation of classical Chinese poetry?

It is not a strict line-by-line translation. Working from limited materials, Judith Gautier rewrote and recreated in the spirit of French poetry, reorganizing both imagery and mood. It is better read as a literary text of cross-cultural rewriting than as a reliable translation for checking against the originals.

Can I read this book without knowing French?

You can follow the content with a bilingual edition or Chinese translation, but much of the book's value lies in the rhythm and diction of the French itself. Readers with no French at all will lose the linguistic pleasure; it is best to use at least a Chinese introduction or a parallel edition.

What is its relationship to Three Hundred Tang Poems?

It is not a translation of Three Hundred Tang Poems but Gautier's French recreation drawing on selected Chinese poetic themes, with its own logic of selection and arrangement. Readers should not expect to match it against the original anthology index by index; it is better treated as an independent work of French literature.

Is it suitable for translation practice?

It works well as a case for rewriting and back-translation. Choose a short poem, read the French first, try rendering it back into Chinese, then compare with the original to observe additions, omissions, and shifts in tone. It should not, however, be used as a standard model of translation accuracy.

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