Earlier this month Joseph Chan, a well-known authority on Confucianism at the University of Hong Kong, published a short essay (in Chinese) that draws on the Analects (especially 8:13) to think about people’s responsibilities when a state “lacks the Way.” A very brief summary: when Confucius says that in a state lacking the Way one should “yin 隱” (which is translated “conceal” in that Ctext link), he does not mean that one should hide away and fail to engage with the society. It might be worth contrasting this with questions raised in 2014 during the Umbrella Movement about the lack of Confucian discourse at that time.
Category Archives: Analects
New book: The Art of Chinese Philosophy by Paul Goldin
Paul Godin’s new book, The Art of Chinese Philosophy: Eight Classical Texts and How to Read Them, has been published by Princeton University Press. More info is found here.
Peimin Ni wins Scaglione Prize in translation
MLA’S SCAGLIONE PRIZE FOR A TRANSLATION OF A SCHOLARLY STUDY OF LITERATURE AWARDED TO PEIMIN NI FOR UNDERSTANDING THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS AND TO SYLVIA ADRIAN NOTINI FOR THE VENETIAN QUR’AN; JOHN MARINCOLA TO RECEIVE HONORABLE MENTION FOR ON WRITING HISTORY
New York, NY – 4 December 2019 – The Modern Language Association of America today announced it is awarding its thirteenth Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature to Peimin Ni, of Grand Valley State University, for Understanding the Analects of Confucius: A New Translation of Lunyu with Annotations, published by the State University of New York Press, and to Sylvia Adrian Notini, of the University of Bologna, for her translation of Pier Mattia Tommasino’s The Venetian Qur’an: A Renaissance Companion to Islam, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. John Marincola, of Florida State University, is receiving an honorable mention for On Writing History: From Herodotus to Herodian, published by Penguin.
Please click here to download a PDF of the full press release.
Articles of Interest
Two articles of interest to appear outside of the standard ones we always cover:
- Dong Jiang and Xiaohong Ma, “The Analects and Sense of Justice: The Spirit of Law and Historical Practice” Modern China | Jun 25, 2019 | OnlineFirst
- Julianne Chung, “Is Zhuangzi a Fictionalist?” Philosophers’ Imprint 18:22 (2018)
New Analects Translation
Paul van Els of Leiden University writes…
This new translation of the Lunyu, which recently came out, may have escaped the attention of Warp, Weft, and Way blog readers, as it was published by what appears to be an obscure press:
Li, Chris Wen-Chao. 2018. What Confucius Really Said: The Complete Analects in a Skopos-Centric Translation. San Francisco: Maison 174. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1727464494/)
Purists might frown upon this translation, if only because the real Confucius could not and would not have quoted Katy Perry as saying “You’re hot then you’re cold, You’re yes then you’re no, You’re in then you’re out, You’re up then you’re down” (p. 164). Still, Li’s work is a creative take on the ancient text, and translations such as “Confucius @MasterSays: Guys who talk sweet and smile all the time are scum.” (p. 3) might strike a chord with the Twitter generation.
Survey Request on English Translations of the Analects
Message from Professor Tao:
I am a professor of translation studies at Fudan University, Shanghai. This questionnaire is designed for my Fulbright project, investigating the feedback of English readers of translations of The Analects. If you are an academic scholar (graduate students included) in the West, whose working language is English, and have read the English version of The Analects of Confucius, please help, and answer each question. There are no right or wrong answers. After you complete the survey, please send me your email address to taoyoulan@hotmail.com, and I will reward you a $20 Amazon gift card. If you could accept a further interview with me please let me know. Feel free to contact me at 0086-13671600660 (or American cellphone 15715087149) if my questions are not clear. If you visit Shanghai I hope I can meet you there someday.
https://kent.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cRTPj5t8is2QM1T
Thank you for your expertise, and taking time to complete the survey and participating in this study!
Youlan Tao
Analects 2.13
A while back, in the now-vanished Discussions section, I proposed a new idea about Analects 2.13. Here I’m putting it back on the record.
2.13
子貢問君子。子曰：「先行其言，而後從之。」(ctext.org)
On Tzŭ Kung asking about the nobler type of man the Master said: “He first practices what he preaches and afterwards preaches according to his practice.” (Soothill)
Slingerland Reviews Hunter, Confucius Beyond the Analects
The latest issue of Early China contains a review by Edward Slingerland of Michael Hunter, Confucius Beyond the Analects (Leiden: Brill, 2017). Slingerland’s concluding paragraph:
Analects 5.22
Recently I noticed that the way I have always read Analects 5.22 is out of line with the wide consensus. So maybe I’m just missing something.
Columbia Neo-Confucianism Seminar: Sommer on Analects
The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies will convene this Friday, December 7th, from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the main board room of the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
The speaker will be Deborah Sommer, who will be sharing her “Reflections on a Topically Arranged Translation of the Analects,” as well as a draft of the first chapter. Please contact the Rapporteur, Zach Berge-Becker, for more information and for copies of the paper.
