I am learning Pali now with an eye to making translations of some of
the verse suttas. My questions are, who are the best of the
translators out there doing this sort of thing? The work of Thanissaro
Bikkhu is the best I have found so far-- is there anyone out there
comparable or better?
A related question is the level of interest in such things. I know
this is rather hard to gauge, but, *are* there many people out there
who would wish to read literary (rather than literal) translations of
such works?
By literary I don't mean more of the shallow Thomas Cleary/Stephen
Mitchell/Coleman Barks make-it-up-with-trot-in-hand work, but real
literary translation, faithful without being plodding, translating
idea-by-idea rather than word by word?
My previous experience translating has been in Graeco-Roman Classics,
and there the few people who are interested in such things are very
uptight academics who are basically opposed to the idea of translation
at all They want word for word accuracy that will somehow be at the
same time effective poetry.
I get the impression that Buddhists are, perhaps in the wake of the
Beat Generation, a bit more sophisticated. But who knows? Thus my
question.