The Secret History of the Mongols [Paperback]

Arthur Waley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002

First published in 1963.
The Secret History (so called merely because it was meant for the Mongols and not for the Chinese,) has been chiefly studied from a learned point of view and its quality as literature and hence its value to the lay reader have been greatly overlooked. The Chinese version has been used, but with constant reference to the Mongol text. The parts selected (founded on story-tellers' tales) date from the middle of the thirteenth century.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur Waley was a distinguished authority on Chinese and Japanese language and literature. He translated many poems and novels from these languages. He was honoured many times for his work by the Chinese and received the Queen's medal for poetry in 1953. His work includes Chinese Poems, Japanese Poetry, The Tale of Genji and Monkey, the translation of a sixteenth-century Chinese novel, which was turned into a major BBC television series. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 366 pages
• Publisher: House of Stratus (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842323709
• ISBN-13: 978-1842323700
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,489,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Weakest Version, January 4, 2010

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Ronin - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Secret History Of The Mongols (Paperback)

Actually, to be fair, the weakest version is the one Waley praises by Cleaves in his prologue; so, 2nd weakest. This book is a compilation of the poems, articles, and translations of Arthur Waley, a Chinese & Japanese language scholar who also translated The Tale of Genji. Before you buy this book I suggest you Search Inside and check out the table of contents, because Waley's The Secret History (TSH) only involves pages 231-329. Because of this I feel the title of the book "The Secret History of the Mongols: A Saga of Epic Battles, Betrayal, Love, Tyrants, and Prisoners in Ancient China" is poorly chosen, hence my 3-stars. The title implies that TSH is the focus, when in fact the focus is on the works of Mr. Waley, of which TSH was but one.

I personally have little interest in his other work, so my review focuses on the 98-pages (out of 355) dealing with TSH, and I do apologize if you were looking for information on the rest. If you have a basic interest in reading TSH, the version by Paul Kahn is both affordable and more than adequate, and is written in the original poetic. If you are looking for a more in depth study of this subject, then without a doubt I would recommend the 2-vol set by Igor de Rachewiltz as the definitive study.

Aside from all the extraneous works in this version, there is another issue potential buyers should be aware of: it is not the complete TSH, it is only excerpts. It is also not in the "original" form, which was prose, but rather a translated version that only recounts the story-tellers' tales. For some, especially people who just want the gist of the story, Waley's translation will likely be more readable and user-friendly, which was his intention when he wrote it, but for the purist it simply won't do. With regards to this aspect, Waley does a good job as he referenced both the Chinese and Mongolian versions for his translation.