First off, please go read the Interview with Ethan Holtzman of Dengue Fever I did, which is now up at Suicide Girls. This interviewing stuff is a new thing for me that I hope to do a lot more of in the future.
OK. I need some help. Please read the following carefully before responding.
Gudo Nishijima has translated the poem "Fundamental Song of the Middle Way" by Nagarjuna from Sanskrit into English. This poem is very ancient and very difficult. It has been translated a number of times before, though I believe all of the English versions are out of print currently with the possible exception of "Verses From The Center" by Stephen Batchelor, which is not really a scholarly translation but more Mr. Batchelor's own interpretation (this is a valid thing, but it's not what Nisshijima is intending to do). Though this is the case, the out-of-print versions are not all that hard to find thru sites like Powell's, Amazon and Abe Books.
Nishijima's translation is unlike any of the others which, he believes, are all basically incorrect. He does not want his version "corrected" into something more resembling the standard translations.
Three native English speakers have worked on making Nishijima's English version comprehensible to native speakers of English. The first two walked off the job in frustration. Somehow I managed to complete the task to his satisfaction and now he would like to publish it. However I have found that I cannot do this alone.
Here are the problems.
1) The Sanskrit font used by the first guy who worked on the project has become corrupted. There are dozens of other fonts available. So please don't propose fixing the problem by pointing me to a link where I can find a Sanskrit font. The problem is that I can find no way to fix what's already been done except by re-typing every single Sanskrit word that appears in the piece. And there are a whole lot of them. I simply do not have the time to do this. Perhaps someone can come up with an easier fix. But I can't. Before you propose anything, please look at the PDF files that are linked at the end of this blog entry so you can understand precisely what the problem is. If you compare these attached files with one of the existing printed versions of the piece (please do this before proposing anything), you will notice that in numerous places the letters used are incorrect or there are simply blank spaces where letters ought to be.
2) I need a proofreader/editor. I cannot judge for myself what makes sense and what does not make sense to anyone other than me. I do not want a fan to tell me everything is great and I don't want a fan who thinks I want scathing criticism of every line to try and make me happy by critiquing every little nuance. I need a real editor, preferably (but not necessarily) someone with experience working with other authors.
3) We need a publisher. Currently we're thinking that print-on-demand is the way to go. But we're open to any and all other options.
Here are two excerpts from the book. This is the introduction:
INTRODUCTION
And here is chapter 9, which I chose arbitrarily as a pretty good example of what most chapters are like:
CHAPTER 9
There are 28 chapters plus the introduction and an extra chapter devoted to a four line verse that precedes the piece. Most are about this length, though a few are shorter and some are longer.
Please do not respond without reading both of these excerpts in their entirety. If you can't at least do that much you won't be able to do the rest.
The problems listed above are just the most pressing ones. There are plenty of others to be worked out. If you don't like problem solving, don't write me about this. Also don't expect to get paid for this work. In the unlikely event the book ends up making any money you'll get your share. But I don't foresee that happening and I don't have a budget to pay for the work. However, we will give anyone who helps all due credit for their work and it could look good on a resume.
Sorry to be such an ass about all this. But I've been flaked out upon by a number of people who offered to help on this project in the past and I would prefer not to waste a lot of time. If you want to help (and you're very certain you want to help) please write me at:
brad(dot)warner(at)mac(dot)com
