"A translator has divided loyalties. He has a duty to his author, a duty to his reader and a duty to the text. The thr…"

"Our task is not the training of interpreters, nor the indulgence of exotic tastes, nor the revelation of some arcane …"

"The idea that the worldling's 'reality' is illusion and that life itself is a dream from which we shall eventually aw…"

"Many of the symbols, word-plays and secret patterns with which the novel abounds seem to be used out of sheer ebullie…"

"My one abiding principle has been to translate everything – even puns. For although this is...an 'unfinished' novel, …"

"It seems to me ridiculous to try to believe that Gao E sat down and wrote the last 40 chapters [of Dream of the Red C…"

"I'd thought that what I'd like to do is to a translation where I don't have to think about academic considerations. S…"

"Hawkes brought to bear such a wide range of rhetorical skills, such penetrating insight into character, such finely h…"

"You take well-warranted and judicious liberties to make things clear to your readers, & this is excellent, but not so…"

"Hawkes's English version [of the Hong lou meng] is not a perfect translation, to be sure, but in terms of accuracy, o…"