The Last Six Million Seconds (49 page)

AFTERWORD

M
ILTON
C
UTHBERT’S
TRANSLATIONS
were much inspired by Ezra Pound, whose rendering of the second century
B.C
. poet Mei Sheng has everything in common with the poem that Chan found in the diplomat’s library. The quotation from “The River Song” is from Pound’s translation of Li Po.

On the other hand, Chan himself possessed an original talent; that is to say, the quotation from Lao-tsu on the last page is not to be found in any of the Master’s known works.

The phrase “borrowed place living on borrowed time,” quoted in
Chapter 2
, was coined by the late Richard Hughes.

• Cover
  
• Other Books by This Author
  
• About the Author
  
• Title Page
  
• Copyright
  
• Dedication
  
• Preface
  
• Acknowledgments
  
• Author’s Notes
  
• Epigraph
  
• Chapter 1
  
• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 4
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6
  
• Chapter 7
  
• Chapter 8
  
• Chapter 9
  
• Chapter 10
  
• Chapter 11
  
• Chapter 12
  
• Chapter 13
  
• Chapter 14
  
• Chapter 15
  
• Chapter 16
  
• Chapter 17
  
• Chapter 18
  
• Chapter 19
  
• Chapter 20
  
• Chapter 21
  
• Chapter 22
  
• Chapter 23
  
• Chapter 24
  
• Chapter 25
  
• Chapter 26
  
• Chapter 27
  
• Chapter 28
  
• Chapter 29
  
• Chapter 30
  
• Chapter 31
  
• Chapter 32
  
• Chapter 33
  
• Chapter 34
  
• Chapter 35
  
• Chapter 36
  
• Chapter 37
  
• Chapter 38
  
• Chapter 39
  
• Chapter 40
  
• Chapter 41
  
• Chapter 42
  
• Chapter 43
  
• Chapter 44
  
• Chapter 45
  
• Chapter 46
  
• Chapter 47
  
• Chapter 48
  
• Chapter 49
  
• Chapter 50
  
• Chapter 51
  
• Chapter 52
  
• Chapter 53
  
• Chapter 54
  
• Chapter 55
  
• Chapter 56
  
• Chapter 57
  
• Chapter 58
  
• Afterword