If history is deprived of the Truth, we are left with nothing but an idle, unprofitable tale
Five hundred years before the birth of Christ, the world was still a wild and untamed place. In the aftermath of the Bronze Age Collapse, the quest for sustenance defined the lives of beasts and men alike. Civilisation, scattered and confused, was confined to the north of the equator, in a narrow strip of the …
It has been five years since with uncertain footsteps I boarded a vessel bound for the West. My luggage weighed heavy, my heart heavier still, leaden with a melancholy I did not yet know. Plump with the dew of paradise, aflame with youthful irreverence, and in defiance of orthodoxies past, my exodus had brought me …
What follows is my personal interpretation and translation of the famed Chinese text, 洛神赋 (Encounter With A Goddess, sometimes translated as "Ode to the Nymph of the Luo River") , by 曹植 (Cao Zhi). Born in 192 AD, the author was renowned for his talent, ambition, and brilliance, writing many of China's most well-known poems. …
A long long time ago, there once lived a sage who was so wise that he knew of all the mountains and the seas of the world. He had witnessed wonder and terror beyond comprehension. Through books and scrolls his mind soared high, and took him to where his feet could not tread. And so …
What follows is the final part of my interpretation and translation of 白居易‘s 长恨歌. Ancient Chinese literature is notoriously difficult to translate to English due to the sheer amount of mythological, idiomatic, cultural, historical, and literary references through which meanings are conveyed in the Chinese language. By reading a poem such as this, one can …
What follows is a personal interpretation and translation of the song 我的中国心，literally, "My Chinese Heart", by 张明敏. The simple eloquence of the lyrics, combined with the powerful ideas at play, creates a very moving piece. But the song truly resonated with me not because of its literary merit or popularity, but because it is literally …
What follows is the second part of my interpretation of 长恨歌 (the song of everlasting regret) by 白居易. See part 1 here: https://venividiveritas.com/2023/05/09/the-song-of-everlasting-regret-part-1/ 九重城阙烟尘生，千乘万骑西南行。 Above the forbidden city loomed the smoke of war. Southwest the host travelled, a thousand horses, ten thousand men. 翠华摇摇行复止，西出都门百余里。 The emperor's jade crown swayed and turned, the fire of rebellion …
What follows is a personal interpretation and translation of the famed Chinese poem 长恨歌，or The Song of Everlasting Regret, by the poet 白居易. Written in the ninth century, it depicts the tragic love story between an emperor and his concubine and is renowned for its literary flourish and narrative flow. This article covers the first …
Part 1: https://venividiveritas.com/2023/01/24/queen-of-cities-a-fictional-tour-of-constantinople-in-540-ad/ Part 2: https://venividiveritas.com/2023/02/22/the-queen-of-cities-part-2-house-of-god/ Without Ecritius’s presence, I was naked and alone in the grand halls of Imperator Caesar Justinianus Augustus. The courtiers, each of them garbed in silk so fine I could see the pale hue of their skin, were as sullen and silent as mosaic saints as they led me past …
Continue reading The Queen of Cities Part 3: The House of Man
Part 1: https://venividiveritas.com/2023/01/24/queen-of-cities-a-fictional-tour-of-constantinople-in-540-ad/ The visages of sages past observed in hushed reverence as I was led through the monastery by Ecritius, their faces immortalised in melancholic mosaic. Golden incense holders and candelabras glittered as the candle flames swayed, contorting like the lithesome frames of Oriental dancers. Either side of me, monks garbed in unassuming raiments …
Continue reading The Queen of Cities Part 2: The House of God
Veni Vidi Veritatem 