Qin Guan (1049-1100) was a Chinese poet, most famous for his love poems written within the classical Chinese tradition in a lyric poetry style known as ci (also known as t’zu) which was particularly popular during the Song Dynasty. You can think of ci as essentially a song lyric, or “words for music” used in what would today be called cabaret songs. William McNaughton mentions in the introduction to this new volume of Qin Guan poetry that:

…unlike the uniform line-length of other Chinese poetic forms such as jueju and lüshi, the line length of ci frequently varies. Such variety, of course — held together by rhyme, by careful exploitation of the phonemic tones of the Chinese language, and sometimes by stanzaic forms — made for very interesting listening, especially in a tradition in which rules and great formal rigor had prevailed, even intimidated.

Guan was a disciple of the great Su Shih (Su Tungpo). While Su Shih strove to loosen the poetic conventions of the day, Qin Guan went even further “by writing about his encounters with courtesans, a subject considered to be a major indiscretion by Chinese society.” Qin often wrote lyrics/verse based on songs courtesans would “sing during their professional entertainments – songs brought from their conquered homelands.” The prospectus for this new edition tells us of Qin that:

Political clashes led to a string of banishments and exiles, his poetry was shunned for its sensuality, and he suffered from the vicissitudes of love—all of which moved him to write these brief, incandescent poems of departure and “long goodbyes.”

Qin’s work has been called “subtle, graceful, and restrained.” Some examples will make that clear. Partridge Sky includes:

Orioles singling among the branches
in tune with someone’s sobbing

the fresh birdsong interweaves
with calls that echo from the past

all spring the birds and fish
go restlessly about love’s business

and the dreaming soul wears itself out
crossing high passes and finding nothing

To the tune All the Garden’s Fragrance, Qin recollects youth and good times from the past:

…
I stop at a wayside table
and raise my cup
toasting the past

did all these good times really happen
…

It melts my soul
to recollect those times
when perfume came dimly from little purses
…

In The Sennin of Magpie Bridge, the poet writes:

A few small clouds
in formation

that shooting star
means grief in heaven

it’s wide, the sky’s silver river
and hard to ford

when his autumn wind and her frosty dew
combine like jade and gold 
it surpasses anything human

And

Emotions are water
good times are dreams

…

if they love each other
the way the story says
how can they stand it
dawn after dawn
dusk after dusk?

In another to the tune of All the Garden’s Fragrance, Qin writes of what so many of us dream of today, getting out of the rat race:

From time to time
I play my piccolo

clear wind, bright moon
I am this scene, I have
no separate form

sometimes a man can laugh off
questions of making a living
and drift throughout life’s distress
like duckweed

when I finish drinking
I’ll fall asleep
         — any objections? —

and though I have ears I won’t hear
the troubles of this world

the river wind will be peaceful
sun will be high, I’ll sleep on
and wake up still a bit drunk
feeling the wine like an extra pillow

To the tune As Though Dreaming, my favorite few lines (which is apropos for a site called Books and Vines):

spring’s colors
warm everyone
like wine

This new edition of poetry by Qin Guan, titled Moon As Bright As Water, is from James Dissette and Chad Pastotnik – their last joint venture together under the imprint Chester River Press (more on this later). Not only is it a wonderful private press production, but it is important as it represents the first time these poems have been released in the English language.  The translation is by William McNaughton (1933-2008) and David Young.  McNaughton studied with Ezra Pound 1953-1956 and established the Chinese language programs at Oberlin College, Wabash College, Antioch College Denison University and Bowling Green State University. He was the founding Program Director of the University of Hong Kong’s BA Translation and Interpretation program where he worked until his retirement in 1998. He wrote ten books on Chinese language, Asian literature and Russian literature. David Young has been Longman Professor of English at Oberlin College since 1986 and an editor of FIELD magazine since 1969. He is the author of many well-regarded collections of poetry, in addition to having translated many works and edited a number of anthologies.

The book is printed in three colors on 150gsm Hahnemühle Biblio and the type is composed in Dante. The paper is unbelievably soft with a gorgeous texture (they should make bed sheets out of this stuff!). This edition is bound in a sage Asahi book cloth with cotton indigo colored Shizen paper with a hint of gold batik highlights with a velum spine title and is housed in a slipcase of warm grey cotton book cloth. The binding is incredibly attractive as you can see below!  It was printed and bound at Chad Pastotnik’s Deep Wood Press. As you can see in the macro’s below, the presswork is marvelous. The edition is limited to 80 copies, of which 10 deluxe and 5 reserved for hand binders. The book is 34 pages and is 10 1/2″ x 7 3/4″.  There is an introduction by McNaughton and an afterword by Young. Moon As Bright As Water was edited by Richard Kent, Professor of East Asian Art History at Franklin Marshall College. He received his B.A. in English from Oberlin College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese art and archaeology from Princeton University.

As mentioned earlier, this will be the last book with the Chester River Press imprint. Many longtime Books and Vines readers are familiar with Chester River’s fantastic Heart of Darkness.  A few lucky readers also have their The Chesapeake Voyages of Captain John Smith.  While the imprint Chester River Press will be used for non-fine press work done by Mr. Dissette,  fine press collaborations between Mr. Dissette and Mr. Pastitnik will continue under a new imprint, Mad Parrot Press. I very much look forward to works from that new imprint and will pass on to Books and Vines readers any emerging news on plans for the imprint as they become known to me. I can tease you with a work they hope to have out by the summer of 2017, The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster.

About the Edition

• Translated by William McNaughton and David Young
• Introduction by William McNaughton
• Afterword by David Young
• The type is composed in Dante
• Printed in three colors on 150gsm Hahnemühle Biblio
• Bound in a sage Asahi book cloth with cotton indigo colored Shizen paper with a hint of gold batik highlights with a velum spine title and is housed in a slipcase of warm grey cotton book cloth (the deluxe is quarter bound in a vellum spine, housed in a drop spine box)
• The Chinese character for the book was done by William McNaughton, Mr. Pastotnik had dies made of it for printing in the book with an ink of his own making and had a separate die made for the foil stamping on the cover
• 34 pages, 10 1/2″ x 7 3/4″
• Printed and bound at Deep Wood Press, edition of 80, including 10 deluxe and 5 reserved for hand binders
• Price is $650 for the standard and $1000 for the deluxe

Pictures of the Edition

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