An intersemiotic translation of ‘The Poet, Eater of Lions, in the Lair of Stone’ – ? ? ? ? ?

Abstract

In this paper, we intersemiotically translate the poem ‘The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den’ (????? in traditional chinese). The translation of the poem started from a direct examination of the text, in two Chinese versions, and comparison with two cognitive-discursive translations (English and French). The result, a series of images based on a small collection of graphic-chromatic components, focused on the temporal succession of the events. The sequence of cuts, and variable rhythmic structure, try to compensate the most important loss of the translated sign-source, which is the ambiguity based on the tonal variations of the same phonetic unity.