Fengshen Yanyi (Jap: 'Houshin Engi'; Eng: 'Appointment of the Gods') was written during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 - 1644)(you have been warned - didn't I say that this was to be a nerdy blog???).
About the language: Fengshen was written in a form of ancient Chinese known as 'Gu3Bai2Hua4Wen2' by an unknown author, whom some people have named tentatively as Chen2 Zhong1Lin2. Let's say that Gu3Bai2Hua4Wen2 is intermediate between classical-classical Chinese ('Wen2Yan2Wen2')and modern Chinese ('Bai2Hua4Wen2'). For examples of the former, look up texts like the stuff by Confucius and his disciples. For examples of the latter, look up any modern Chinese book.
Why this book? Well, my dad bought some VCDs. The VCDs were from Hong Kong. They sucked. Big time. One of the reasons they sucked was that the movies on them had appalling special effects. I mean, they looked so 70s...
But more importantly, I felt that the movies overzealously re-told the Fengshen Yanyi story so that it was not the story I remebered but something totally different. There've been other versions of this story such as a Japanese manga/anime and a few movies, as well as a few adaptations in print. I note there is the original version online, but I've also noted that I can't seem to find an English translation of the original on the web.
So here I am. I shall translate this book from its original language into English. For FREE. Gratis. I don't know who'll be interested, but anyway... Back to my point. This is daunting. To do this, I need your HELP. No, I DON'T want your money. That's for next time. Instead, I want your comments and your visits and your recommendations.
I'll work on the translation now. Will post it tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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