Customer Reviews

The Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This translation is far superior to any other that I have seen. The Analects have always been a difficult and opaque work for me. I have read it several times over many years and have always found at least half the sayings completely incomprehensible. The Waley and Legge translations are dry and dated. Lau and Dawson are easier to read but still leave me puzzled about the meaning of most of the sayings. Some of their notes are useless and distracting, while others merely fail to inform. I was always left thinking of the Analects as a few clever and witty proverbs scattered throughout a strange and impentrable work.

The Huang translation, on the other hand, is clear and easy to read. It is easy to follow the structure of the book. It has just the right amount of notes and they are located just underneath the analect itself--not at the bottom of the page or end of the book where you have to interupt your reading and look for them. The sayings that are easy to understand have no notes. The other sayings have notes that clarify the context and meaning. They are brief and to the point so that they don't get in the way of the text. Things that were impossible to understand are now clear. I find that I am no longer burdened by trying to decipher the meaning. As a result I am now getting to know the character and personality of each of the students, and enjoying their interaction with the Master. This is something I was never able to do before with other translations. Reading the Analects is no longer a chore but an enjoyable journey to a distant, but accessible, culture.

The review above is uninformed. Even if he knows that the main Chinese phonetic system is called pinyin. If one reads the copious notes that back up the research in this translation, one would realize that every character is philologically proven. Whether by the lexicon Shuo Wen, the sea of words or other. This translation is the epitome of scholarly work. There is an unpresedented wealth of information in this book. There has been no one near the ability of Chichung Huang in understanding the ancient cannotations of Chinese characters. He has achieved a far more scholarly level in classical Chinese than any other Chinese scholar and translator that I have ever read. The amount of clear concise research proves it. His work is fluid, concise and true to the original exactly because the translator has the ability to be literal. His contemporaries are lacking in this regard. Ren does translate to mean humanity, as in the founding principles of humanity and rightiousness. Read the introduction please.

As I bought this book as a gift for my daughter who cannot read Chinese, I compared this translation with the Chinese versions that I have. To understand the original analects fully, most Chinese books provides explanations and definitions. The author has done an excellent job in providing translations and explanations of the analects at the same time.

I bought this version of the analects based on previous reviews. I am only about one-third finished, but I am re-reading much as I go along. This translation has completely surpassed my hopes. I know very little Chinese history and none of the language. Yet this translation, with its meticulous notes, provides sufficient context to make Confucious accessible to anyone--even to me. It is deeply rewarding and satisfying to read. Thank you to this translator.

A worthy piece of work, with brisk, clean contemporary language and copious notes. But "humanity" is an inadequate and inappropriate translation of _ren_. Pinyin romanization.