SBWright reviewed Narrow Road to the Interior by Bashō Matsuo
Review of 'Narrow Road to the Interior' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Known also by the title Narrow Road to the North, Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings collates several travelogues and hundreds of Haiku written by the Japanese master Basho.
All translated works depend on the skills and abilities of their translators and on the choices they are forced to make in trying to recreate something in another language and culture. To that end I think Sam Hamill does a good job, or his tastes are more in line with mine i.e. three line haiku.
I have the paperback version of a similar work (the same travelogues) by Nobuyuki Yuasa that dates from the 1960’s and it presents the Haiku in four lines, this destroyed much of my enjoyment because they felt over explained to me – though the translations were perhaps more exact in their transmission of Basho’s ideas.
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