Translating from modern to literary chinese - word lookups

[louiejac]

Suppose I want to write in literary chinese and I don't know the literary equivalent to a modern chinese word, can I look into a searchable PDF classical chinese dictionary and use any classical word that contains the modern meaning? Does it matter what era the word I find comes from? Am I allowed to mix literary chinese vocabulary from different eras in the same sentence and still claim to be writing literary chinese? Note that I'm confident in the grammar rules of literary chinese, so this is purely a vocabulary question.

 

Example 1: if I want to translate a sentence containing 現在才/剛才, and searching the PDF dictionary returns "甫" or "始" as candidates, do I have a free choice between these words?

 

普通話：我現在才能自己旅行而到那裏去，可惜我來得太遲。

文言文：今甫有以獨䢟而往焉，惜乎我之弗及也。

 

Example 2: according to 王力's 古代漢語, 若 and 抑 are both used in sentences with alternatives/choices. Again, do I have a free choice between the two?

 

普通話：明確地表示我所要之關係，就成功穫我所要，還是被人拒絕。

文言文：顯所求者，則得所欲，抑爲人所拒。

 

(feel free to comment if you see anything other mistakes in my modern mandarin or literary chinese translations).

 

If a word I choose can have mutiple meanings, is it usually the responsibility of the reader to guess what meaning I intend, or is it the writer's responsibility to choose the word that is least likely to be misinterpreted? Should literary chinese readers expect to shoulder burden of correct interpretation? What was the mindset of literary chinese writers?

 

I want to write as if I'm living in a parallel universe in which the "4 May" movement never occurred and Mandarin is not the single official language of China. Don't ask why, please and thank you. Also, I do plan on reading more literary chinese material - I'm just curious if I can use this PDF shortcut.