The Analects (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Translator) "The Master said: To learn something and at times to practise it-surely that is a pleasure?..." (more)
Key Phrases: hundred surnames, single saying, outer coffin, Master Kong, Master Zeng, Yan Hui (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a fine new translation of The Analects. The introduction, notes, and extensive index provided by the translator, Raymond Dawson, are particularly helpful."--Wayne D. Owens, Incarnate Word College
"This tightly edited and prefaced edition is true to the translation and historical work. While small, it is still powerful and important. While early in the history of writing, it still connects with readers today."--Professor Eric Wignall, Valparaiso University
"This is a useful translation for an introductory course in Chinese and Eastern Philosophy or ethics."--Professor C.Y. Cheng, University of Hawaii
"Finally a good translation!"--Kelley L. Ross, Los Angeles Valley College
"Excellent translation, helpful notes, beautiful cover!"--John M. Koller, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Few individuals have shaped their country's civilization more profoundly than the Master Kong, better-known as Confucius (551-479 BC). His sayings and those of his disciples form the foundation of a distinct social, ethical, and intellectual system. They have retained their freshness and vigor throughout the two and a half millennia of their currency, and are still admired even in today's China.

This lively new translation offers clear explanatory notes by one of the foremost scholars of classical Chinese, providing an ideal introduction to the Analects for readers who have no previous knowledge of the Chinese language and philosophical traditions.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 9, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192830910
• ISBN-13: 978-0192830913
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,801,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate first Confucius, July 29, 2009

By	Christopher Tricarick "lancelot andrewes" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Analects (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This was the first translation of the Analects that I read. It has faults, but so too does every other translation, and there is no translation that reads more delightfully than this one does; Dawson may be the only really elegant writer of prose to have undertaken an Analects translation. Dawson's besetting sin is a flood of conjunctions and transitions which have no root in the original. Take the following for example:

"The wise delight in water, but the humane delight in mountains. For although the wise are active, the humane are at rest. And although the wise will find joy, the humane will have long life." Here the words "but" "for although" and "and although" are purely Dawson's creation: there is nothing correspoinding to them in the original.

But if this is the worst sin a translator has, we may breathe freely. Lau similarly--in fact to a far worse degree-overlards his translations with verbiage, and he cannot plead the excuse of elegance. Let's compare them. Here is Lau:

"A man is worthy of being a teacher who gets to know what is new by keeping fresh in his mind what he is already familiar with." 27

Would anyone reading that sentence remember it as something inspiring or exciting? And why can Lau not refrain from all the useless padding?

Here is Leys:

"He who by revising the old gets to know the new is fit to be a teacher." 17

A bit better--we don't quite fall alseep here at least--but "revise" is cold and, as we shall see, a strange choice.

And now Dawson:

"If by keeping the old warm one can provide understanding of the new, one is fit to be a teacher." 20

Is there a comparison? I can remember how exciting I found those words the first time I read them! The original has a concision of which English is incapable: "Warm old and know new, can be teacher indeed" would be a word-for-word attempt. Ten words--to Leys' 17, Dawson's 20, and Lau's (typically egregious) 27. "Know new" could mean either the man himself knowing the new, or providing such knowledge to others, or both; classical Chinese admits of these ambiguities, and it gets to the point where ambiguity becomes greater precision, as the knowledge here can be conceived of as communal and indivisible. Dawson has taken a few liberties; we could probably not justify "provide understanding" from a strict analysis of the original, although even here a defence could be mounted, for the Chinese word "knowledge" or "know" includes the sense of wisdom as well. But "keep warm" keeps the "warm" in the sentence, which neither Lau nor Leys seems interested in. Yet it is important! The soul of the Analects is alive in this translation as it is not in the others.

This book is not equipped with much in the way of scholarly or philological notes, but there are enough notes to clear up the obvious problems. I would strongly recommend this as a first Analects; it's better simply to enjoy and mull over the words themselves without getting caught up in the web of secondary concerns that heavily annotated books tend to drift into. The only really good translation is five or six translations read side by side, for comparison, along with the original, but starting with this one would be the most enjoyable way to get into the world of Confucius.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Layman's Review, May 21, 2006

By	A. J. Valasek (Clemmons, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Analects (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Before purchasing this book, one needs to ask themselves why they want it. If you are purchasing this book to perform a comparitive review on the contextual issues involved with the translation of ancient Chinese for the modern scholar, you will likely be disappointed.

However, if you are simply trying to familiarize yourself with an ancient philosophy of the Far East, this book will do nicely. If you are able to focus on the ideas rather than the grammar, you will be pleased. This book contains a wealth of common sense virtues and would be an absolute "must" for an aspiring political scientist, as it contains a healthy dose of political savvy.

Finally, the reader must keep in mind while reading this that Confucianism did not take hold for many years after Master Kong's death. Such is the way of all wisdom.