Quote:
Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee
Chinese poems translated to English are always krud. It just doesn't have the same structure, rhythm, or anything. The imagery/meaning is all off too, and English translators manage to make everything sound archaic or bizarre when it's not. I have a vague wish of eventually learning enough Chinese to read it in the original language just for historical nerd power cred, but I'm just not as interested in learning it over other languages. Being in Canada, I need to work on my French first >_>
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I feel pretty bad for Zhou Yu. Luo Guanzhong had to write him as a prissy jealous man to create rivalry between him and Zhuge Liang, and so people still remember him that way instead of the skilled strategist that he was in history. A man dying out of jealousy? Pfft.
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It's really cool that many folks from Asia have the shared cultural product of RTK--a 700 year old book of both history and fiction. I can't think of an equally engrossing war epic in Western culture with that kind of reach. Or have as many comic books/TV shows/movie spinoffs.
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I can safely say Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 5 star book, although it trails a bit off after Zhuge Liang dies :P
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hah, from a reader whose mother tongue resembles the original language used in the work, I have very confusing thoughts about Romance of 3 kingdoms.
First, I like the background of the story. It is set in a period which is familiar to us Vietnamese folks, with the familiar names. (to tell the truth, we are familiar with every detail of Chinese history! Scary huh. Of course that excludes me, I was never good at history at school.)
Second, I don't like it because it was twisted by tough hands. Therefore it isn't precise, the author's perspective affects it all. Of course it's a history novel, not a chronicle, and the fact that it praises those whom the author liked best makes the definition of "bad guys" and "good guys" really distinctive. For instance, Cao Cao is considered evil. He's bad, just because he opposed Shu Han. Zhuge Liang is treated differently because he's considered "good". Therefore he defeat Zhou Yu. Nonsense. Zhou Yu was dumb-lucked, that's all.
Third, some details are pretty over limit. Like when Liu Bei said goodbye to his "beloved" general Zhao Yun, he cried like a woman
- consider his status as a warlord at the time, this is unacceptable in my opinion
Overall... I quite liked it
the main reason for this isn't listed above: I love the battle of Red Cliffs
it was awesome!
(Gee, I have to google all these names :| I hate Chinese names :|)