The Analects of Confucius

Jacket Description/Back: 'The Analects of Confucius' is one of the central books of Chinese literature and Chinese thought; memorized and studied for many centuries, it has been certainly one of the most influential books in world history. There are many translations of this rewarding but difficult work. Arthur Waley--the translator of the Tale of Genji, of a vast body of Chinese poetry, and of many other classics of Oriental literature and thought--brings to this translation his great gifts as a scholar and a writer, and has produced what is without question the best version in English of the Analects. Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index; Translation of: Lun yu; Originally published ... by the Macmillan Company, New York, in 1938--T.p. verso."Review Quotes: " All Mr. Waley's previous Oriental work has been acclaimed and treasured; and this fresh rendering of the Analects may come to be accepted as his richest gift: fresh in time and in treatment." -- The ListenerReview Quotes: "All Mr. Waley's previous Oriental work has been acclaimed and treasured; and this fresh rendering of the Analects may come to be accepted as his richest gift: fresh in time and in treatment."-- The ListenerPublisher Marketing: No other book in the entire history of the world has exerted a greater influence on a larger number of people over a longer period of time than this slim volume. The spiritual cornerstone of the most populous and oldest living civilization on Earth, the "Analects" has inspired the Chinese and all the peoples of East Asia with its affirmation of a humanist ethics. As the Gospels are to Jesus, the "Analects" is the only place where we can encounter the real, living Confucius. In this gem-like translation by Simon Leys, Confucius speaks with clarity and brilliance. He emerges as a man of great passion and many enthusiasms, a man of bold action whose true vocation is politics. Confucius (551-479 B. C.) lived in an age of acute cultural and political crisis. Many of his observations mark a world sinking into violence and barbarity. Unable to obtain the leading political role he sought, he endeavored to reform society and salvage civilization through ethical debate, defining for ages to come the public mission of the intellectual.

Contributor Bio:  Waley, Arthur As one recent evaluation puts it, "Waley was the great transmitter of the high literary cultures of China and Japan to the English-reading general public; the ambassador from East to West in the first half of the 20th century. He was self-taught, but reached remarkable levels of fluency, even erudition, in both languages. It was a unique achievement, possible (as he himself later noted) only in that time, and unlikely to be repeated." His importance for raising awareness and scholarly attention to the English speaking world is considered immense, reaching a wider popular readership with later re-publications in classics series. Contributor Bio:  Confucius

Burton Watson has taught at Columbia, Stanford, and Kyoto Universities and is one of the world's best-known translators of Chinese and Japanese works. His translations include The Tales of the Heike; The Lotus Sutra; the writings of Zhuangzi, Mozi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi; The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry; and Records of the Grand Historian.