Quote:
Originally Posted by David Mason
I'd recommend a close reading not only of Dick Davis's translations from the Persian as a wonderful alternative to the banality of Barks, but also Davis's prefaces, introductions and interviews on poetry. He's a wise, lucid mind on these and so many other subjects.
Dave
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This makes me wonder, Dave. Obviously Davis’s translations are better than Barks’s, and his books of more intrinsic value. I can’t get past a couple of pages of Barks, whereas I’ve really enjoyed Davis’s translation of Attar’s
Conference of the Birds and some others of his I've seen in the magazines.
But does the popularity of Barks suggest that people’s imaginations can be fired up by bad poetry? Or is it that the bad free verse offers a brand of Sufism Lite for consumers, not really challenging them and so ultimately not really doing any good?
I tend to think it’s a combination of both, but I wonder what other people think about this.