Fang, Achilles
(Korea 1910-1995) : Project on a Chinese-English dictionary, Harvard-Yenching Institute ; editor Monumenta serica
Name Alternative(s)
Fang, Zhitong
Subjects
Index of Names : China
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Linguistics
Chronology Entries (2)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1950-1953 | Ezra Pound was engrossed in Confucian translations. Apart from making draft versions of The Analects and the Odes he prepared the bilingual edition of The great digest & The unwobbling pivot with reproductions of rubbings from the Tang Stone-Classics. Willis Meeker Hawley (1896-1987), a Hollywood bookseller and sinologist have him the idea of the Stone-Classics. James Laughlin of New Directions forwarded him a letter from Fang Achilles, suggesting consistent and correct spelling of Chinese names in Cantos 52-61. Fang offered to compose a note on the Stone-Classics and decided to come to Washington to meet Pound. During this meeting, Fang handed over to Pound a list of recommended changes in the Romanization of Chinese names and Pound accepted them. The first meeting was followed by vigorous exchanges of letters. Fang sent him the Shu-jing in the original and at Pound's request Fang gave him an account of the 'Thirteen Classics'. After reading though some of these volumes, Pound came to the conclusion "All the answers are in the FOUR BOOKS". As a dictionary compiler, Fang was able to answer Pound's trying queries about Chinese dictionaries, evaluating in specific terms their respective strengths and weaknesses. With Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary he was able to study Chinese sound, even its tone. |
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| 2 | 1953-1956 |
Correspondence between Ezra Pound and Fang Achilles about the Confucian Odes [Shi jing] project. In 1948 Pound consulted Willis Hawley about typesetting the characters of the Odes. Hawley sent Pound the photocopies of three Chinese texts. Pound chose the seal script text for his edition. In 1949-1950 the Odes seal text supplied by Hawley passed from James Laughlin of New Directions to Laughlin's printer Dudley Kimball. Numerous letters concerning the layouts of the project were exchanged between Pound, Hawley, Laughlin and Kimball. 1951 Pound was losing patience. At that point Fang Achilles came to his rescue. He approached the director of Harvard University Press, Thomas Wilson, and succeeded in stirring an interest. The letters provide a detailed record of Pound's and Harvard's conflicting desires and of Fang's role as a mediator. Harvard's enthusiasm was for Pound's translation. Pound absolutely would not pull out from his manuscript the singing syllables and the characters. The negotiation of a contract broke down in 1952. In 1953 John Kasper reported to Pound Macmillan's and Twayne's interest in this project. Meanwhile, Fang assured Pound that Harvard University Press would carry out his wishes. Pound changed his mind. Harvard Press offered him two contracts in 1953, first to publish a 'trade edition' and then to bring out a three-way 'scholar's edition'. Pound signed both contracts. In 1955 Fang Achilles corresponded with Pound's family and friends in efforts to get Pound released from St Elizabeths Hospital. In 1956 he put aside all other projects to work on the sound key and the seal text. Fang neglected to inform Pound of the progress of the project in 1957. Pound questioned Wilson as to what was holding up the 'proper edition of the Confucian anthology'. Wilson's reply was that the press did not yet have the complete manuscript. Pound turned to Fang for an explanation : "this put ALL the blame on you for the delay in publication of the Odes in the ONLY form that interested me in the least". According to Fang, everything essential had been held in the office of the Harvard Press editorial department. The only thing that he had not turned in was an introduction. For Pound, this was an excuse. In his last letter to Fang in 1958 he wrote : "The sabotage, the blocking of my work remains… The infinite vileness of the state of education under the rump of the present organisms for the suppression of mental life is not your fault." In a reply Fang assured Pound that Harvard University Press would start working on the project after summer vacation. By then Pound had lost confidence in Harvard. He wrote 1958 to Wilson from Italy requesting return of the manuscript and photographs of the complete edition of the Odes. With the termination of the contract regarding the scholar's edition the correspondence with Fang also came to a close. |
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Bibliography (4)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1955 | Fang, Achilles. From imagism to Whitmanism in recent Chinese poetry : a search for poetics that failed. In : Oriental-Western literary relations. Ed. by Horst Frenz and G.L. Anderson. (Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1955). | Publication / WhiW55 | |
| 2 | 1957 |
Fang, Achilles. Fenollosa and Pound. In : Harvard journal of Asiatic studies ; vol. 20, no 1-2 (1957). http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2718526.pdf. |
Publication / Pou29 | |
| 3 | 1958 |
Fang, Achilles. One hundred poems from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth : review. In : The Journal of Asian studies ; vol. 17, no 4 (1958). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2941200. |
Publication / Rex7 | |
| 4 | 2008 |
Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound's Chinese friends : stories in letters. Ed. and ann. by Zhaoming Qian. (Oxford : University Press, 2008). [Enthält] : Briefwechsel mit Song Faxiang (1914), Zeng Baosan, Yang Fengqi (1939-1942), Veronica Hulan Sun, Fang Achilles (1950-1958), Angela Jung Palandri (1952), Zhang Junmai (1953-1957), Zhao Ziqiang (1954-1958), Wang Shenfu (1955-1958), Fang Baoxian (1957-1959). Appendix : Ezra Pound's typescript for "Preliminary survey" (1951). http://cs5937.userapi.com/u11728334/docs/901475cb4b3c/Zhaoming_Qian_Ezra_Pounds_Chinese_Friends _Sto.pdf. |
Publication / Pou16 |