Arthur Cooper (translator)

Arthur Cooper (1916-1988) was a British diplomat, who became a translator of Chinese literature after retirement. He is best remembered for his translations of the Tang dynasty poets Li Bai and Du Fu, but is also known for his original research on the early Chinese script.

Life

Cooper was born to Anglo-Irish parents in 1916. He developed an early interest in languages, learning Icelandic before turning to Japanese and Chinese. He worked for the British Foreign Office from 1938, serving in Hong Kong and Singapore from 1939 to 1942, and for several years in Australia under the British High Commission. He retired in 1968, and thereafter devoted himself to Chinese language and literature. His work On the Creation of the Chinese Script (1978) revealed great insight.[1] He also taught, one of his students being Michael Loewe.[2]

Writings
  • Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems Selected and Translated with an Introduction and Notes (Penguin Books, 1973)
  • The creation of the Chinese script (London: China Society, 1978)
  • Deep Woods' Business: Uncollected Translations from the Chinese (Wellsweep Press, 1990)
  • The Other Greek: An Introduction to Chinese and Japanese Characters, Their History and Influence, Imre Galambos ed. (Brill, 2018)

References
  1. Biography of Cooper in "Li Po and Tu Fu" (Penguin Books, 1973).
  2. Michael Loewe, Bing: From Farmer's Son to Magistrate in Han China, (Hackett Publishing, 2011), p.ix.
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