The Way and its Power. A Study of the Tao Tê Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought.

WALEY, Arthur.

Published by London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1934

About this Item

First edition, first impression, of this still-definitive scholarly translation of the foundational text of Taoism, complete with extensive discussion of its meanings, contexts, and dating. The author is considered the most important translator of Chinese and Japanese literature, poetry, and philosophy into English in the 20th century. In contrast to his other translations, Waley prioritizes technical and philological accuracy over literary flair. In his view, the complex and enigmatic qualities of the Tao Te Ching demanded an interpretation as closely rooted as possible to the received text. Waley's achievements in the fields of Chinese and Japanese studies are more remarkable considering that his language skills were self-taught. He was closely connected with the Bloomsbury group and the Bright Young Things, and he "was responsible for changing substantially the views of Virginia Woolf toward oriental literature" (Henig, p. 76). Reviewing the first volume of Waley's translation of The Tale of Genji in 1925 for Vogue, she wrote that it had helped her recognize "how the differences between Japanese and Anglo cultures did not make the Anglo superior" (quoted by Henig). Woolf acknowledged her literary debts to Waley in the preface to Orlando (1928). Johns A24. Suzanne Henig, "The Bloomsbury Group and Non-Western Literature". Journal of South Asian Literature, vol. 10., no. 1, 1974. Octavo. Original black bead-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt on blue ground. With dust jacket. Cloth and contents fresh, hint of bumping, one tip worn; jacket price-clipped, nicking and chipping, recent white paper repair on verso: a fine copy in very good jacket.

Seller Inventory # 176995

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Way and its Power. A Study of the Tao Tê Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought.
• Publisher: London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1934
• Edition: 1st Edition