Who The Goddess Really Is

Plus: what's up with that smell?

Who The Goddess Really Is

Since the beginning, I’ve translated the name 警幻仙子 as The Goddess Who Unveils Illusion.

There’s a method to my madness.

Those who have read other translations of Dream of the Red Chamber know that David Hawkes calls her Disenchantment.

The idea kind of makes sense in a certain way of thinking. 警幻 literally means “to warn about illusion.” In this sense, the Goddess’ role is to warn the mortals around her of the illusions of the world, or, in a sense, to disenchant them.

The problem with this name, of course, is that there are multiple meanings of the word “disenchant.” It becomes particularly confusing when you realize that David Hawkes preferred to stick with the 18th and 19th century meanings of words in English. In fact, I’d argue that modern readers really need a gloss to fully understand his translation.

But there’s another problem with “Disenchantment.” It’s an interpretative problem. And we actually just saw it yesterday.