The Analects of Confucius - Hardcover

Confucius

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393040194 ISBN 13: 9780393040197

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997

Synopsis

A new translation offers insight into Confucius the man and the turbulent society in which he sought to secure a political role and provides his philosophies regarding problems that also exist in contemporary society.

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Reviews

Simon Leys is the pseudonym of Pierre Ryckmans (Chinese studies, Univ. of Sydney), who tells us in the foreword that he uses a literary pen name because his intention here was to produce a "writer's translation." In fact, this well-crafted translation of Confucius departs only in subtle ways from other distinguished translations to which Leys gives due credit, such as that by Arthur Waley (1938) and D.C. Lau (1979). When his reading is in any way unusual or when he has added to the text, he discloses his rationale fully in the notes. Leys draws parallels between Confucius and thinkers more familiar to Westerners, from Heraclitus to Emerson. He also allows himself to editorialize when a passage strikes a certain chord in him, bringing a fresh, contemporary reading to what might otherwise be an obscure Chinese concept. Scholars of Chinese may quibble over some of the nuances of translation, but it is the opinions set forth in Leys's notes that will spark lively debate. Recommended for academic collections and other collections in need of a good translation of this classic work.?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Nearly all of us think we know Confucius (551^-479 B.C.). He is the archetypal Chinese sage, spouting cryptic one-liners, and, to the slightly more knowledgeable, the inventor of ancestor worship and the groveling before authority that supposedly hobbled progress in China. With his new translation of the only Confucian text, Leys seeks to restore Confucius' reputation by presenting him as an apt teacher for today. Confucius' China was racked by political dissolution and violence, and he prescribed ritualized politeness as a means of bolstering order. But he did not countenance injustice, venality, and the other vices of authority; and he thought that being a gentleman--the most important and desirable status in his political prescription--was something an ethical man from any social class could attain, provided he mastered the kind of education the West has called liberal. To Western societies that many find lacking in civility, order, and virtue, Confucius does indeed speak, and in this version with maximum clarity, thanks to the crystalline introduction and notes as much as to the translation. Ray Olson

Edition details

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393040194
• ISBN 13: 9780393040197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224