You're probably right about Barks, but that "translation" of the Arabic was the first time that the phrase made any sense to me. Obviously, it resonates with my experience and understanding. Same with Bly's "translations" of Kabir; I've been told that they are very creative translations but they remain my favorite versions.
Thanks for the heads-up. ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Marek Reavis" <reavismarek@> > wrote: > > > > Coleman Barks, in one of his translations of Rumi, and speaking > > out of the Sufi tradition, translates the standard "There is no > > God but Allah" (la ilaha il Allahu) as "There is nothing but God, > > God alone is." > > While I, like you, prefer his "translation" here, I > have to warn you that Coleman is well known for his > loose translations of spiritual poetry. I'm most > familiar with his "creative" translations of the > poetry of the Sixth Dalai Lama, which are pretty > in English but often have nothing whatsoever to do > with the original Tibetan he is translating from. > > Friends in Boulder who know him from his many > appearances there at Shambala say that he is quite > outspoken about feeling no need to render the exact > meaning of the original if his intuitive "feeling" > for the poem is something else. > > It's a problem when translating almost all poetry > from one language to another. I'm just mentioning > it because if you're going to quote his translation > of this verse elsewhere, you should know that his > tendency to not respect the original language is > well known. > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
