Lost Wax

Poetry. Translation and translation studies. Poetry in translation is a trust exercise; reader must rely on translator to turn words into other words, while preserving the larger meaning of the original. Jonathan Stalling's book is for those readers less inclined to trust, and/or for those more fascinated by the playfulness of language(s). In LOST WAX, Stalling presents a sequence of poems about his wife's work as a sculptor. Those poems are translated into Chinese and back into English by members of a "workshop" of eight fellow translators. Each poem is then presented in a) the original; b) the Chinese; c) the new English version. An additional workshop page illustrates choices made by translators on both sides of the English/Chinese divide. LOST WAX is a marvelous book of poems that also presents an argument for translation as process, as variation. This book, as well as Stalling's fine introduction, will prove of interest to readers of contemporary American poetry, poetry in Chinese, as well as readers and practitioners of translation.