Wednesday, May 18, 2022
A Failure
Chang Tai (1597-1684?), "An Epitaph for Myself" (excerpt), in Vignettes from the Late Ming: A Hsiao-p'in Anthology. Translated with Annotations and an Introduction by Yang Ye (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), p. 100:
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He studied calligraphy, and he failed. He studied swordsmanship, and he failed. He studied morals and ethics, and he failed. He studied literature, and he failed. He studied Taoism, Buddhism, farming, and gardening and he failed in all. He could only let himself be called a wastrel, a good-for-nothing, a misfit, a dull-witted pedant, a sleepyhead, or a damned old fogy.Mutatis mutandis, de me fabula narratur.
