Thinking by Images: Kamo no Chōmei's "Hōjōki" and Basil Bunting's "Chomei at Toyama"

• Autores: Andrew Houwen
• Localización: Translation and literature, ISSN 0968-1361, Vol. 25, Nº. 3, 2016, págs. 363-379
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Basil Bunting's Chomei at Toyama, a poetic adaptation of Kamo no Chōmei's thirteenth-century prose text Hōjōki (‘Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut’), has been positively received by such diverse figures as Hugh Kenner, Lorine Niedecker, and Philip Larkin. Bunting's version pivots on Chōmei's apparent scepticism towards the Buddhism he adopted when living in the hut. Previous critics have considered this depiction of Chōmei's scepticism to be in keeping with the original text. But, by comparing Bunting's version with Chōmei's Japanese, this discussion reveals fundamental difference between them. Bunting's interpretation is rooted in his own rejection of ‘idealistic’ philosophies in favour of an embrace of the world apprehended through the senses. His alterations, making Hōjōki more Poundian, derive from this aesthetic position. Bunting was influenced in this regard by his reading of Ezra Pound's conception of the Japanese as ‘thinking by images’ rather than ‘ideas’.