The Analects of Confucius
by:
Arthur Waley (author)
Confucius (author)
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 --...
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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. A full introduction gives the social and political background of this work, analyses of key terms in Chinese thought that are prominent in it, and a careful study of the history of the book and its interpretations. There are also full notes illuminating the references to contemporary events and clarifying obscure passages.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780679722960 (0679722963)
Publisher: Vintage
Pages no: 256
Edition language: English
Category:
History,
Academic,
School,
Literature,
Cultural,
Religion,
Politics,
Philosophy,
Asian Literature,
Asia,
Spirituality,
Ancient,
Chinese Literature,
Eastern Philosophy
After trying to read Confucius 'raw' I realized I needed a little help and orientation. This hit the spot and I now feel much more able to tackle the Analects for my own purposes. What I found most helpful?1) The little bit of context in the introduction about Confucius' aims, his career, and how th...
Along with Taoism and Buddhism, Confucianism is called one of the "three great teachings" or "three great religions" of China, and has had an enormous influence not just on China but the entire Far East. This was on Good Reading's list of "100 Significant Books" and there's no question this is one o...
While I have credited the writing of this work to Confucius, it was not actually written by him but rather by his disciples. Thus Confucius joins Socrates and Jesus Christ in having an enormous influence upon the world without actually writing anything down (though this is not correct, as I further ...
This was hard work in places! The Analects themselves probably could do with studying in detail and interpreting rather than just reading for interest – they are a bit, well, philosophical. Fortunately Lau gives us the gist of the Analects in the introduction. The basic upshot of Confucius is the ‘G...
I gave this book 3 stars even though my feelings toward it fit better with the 2 star rating: "it was okay." I guess I don't really have a context for some of the rituals he would refer to, but there were plenty of footnotes throughout to help people like me out. It was really repetitive, a lot of i...
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