Description
Book SynopsisBrimming with mythical imagination, poetic sallies, and often ferociously witty remarks, the
Zhuangzi is one of China's greatest literary and philosophical masterpieces. Yet the complexities of this classical text can make it a challenging read. This English translation leads you confidently through the comic scenes and virtuoso writing style, introducing all the little stories Zhuangzi invented and unpicking its philosophical insights through close commentaries and helpful asides. Romain Graziani opens up the text as never before, showing how Zhuangzi uses the stories as an answer to Mencius's conception of sacrifice and self-cultivation, restoring the critical interplay with Confucius'
Analects, and guiding you through the themes of the animal world, sacrifice, political violence, meditation, illness, and death. In Graziani's translation, the co-founder of Taoism emerges as a remarkable thinker: a dedicated disparager of moral virtues who stubbornly resists any form of
Trade ReviewThe
Zhuangzi is by far the most captivating, challenging and playfully profound piece of philosophical literature to have emerged from ancient China. Stringing together its stories and quirky characters with refreshingly new insight and zest, Graziani is a delightful reading companion to this fascinating text. * Roel Sterckx, Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science and Civilization, University of Cambridge, UK *
Graziani demonstrates through a series of close readings that the style and wit of the
Zhuangzi are by no means achieved at the expense of philosophical depth— that, rather, the work’s aesthetic appeal and moral seriousness are inseparable. For the first time, the work’s determined rejection of almost all the schemes of value current in Warring-States China is revealed. Zhuangzi’s art of dialogue, his empathy with ‘unreliable’ characters, his handling of the taboo topic of death, his twists and turns, are patiently and wonderfully brought out. * Haun Saussy, University Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, USA *
The
Zhuangzi is one of the most imaginative and inventive works in world philosophy. Through his nuanced analyses and outstanding translations, Graziani beautifully conveys the philosophical complexity, the literary subtlety, and the marvelous wit of this extraordinary text. This is a wonderful and tremendously exciting book. * Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, Harvard University, USA *
Luxuriating in the richness of the
Zhuangzi’s delightfully irreverent stories, Graziani resists the pressure to distill tidy philosophical lessons from them. Instead, he unleashes his own dazzling literary skill to show how the fictional dimensions of the work are not simply a side show but form the living heart of the text’s philosophical vision. * Curie Virág, Senior Researcher and Co-Project Director, University of Edinburgh, UK *
Table of ContentsForeword Introduction
Part I: Humans Versus Animals 1. Carving up a Myth in the Kitchens of Power 2. Zoocide: Reflections on the Zhuangzi Bestiary
Part II: Humans Versus Death 3. One Monster, Two Mortals, and Myriad Metamorphoses 4. Fun at the Funerals
Part III: Humans Versus Heaven 5. Acesis and Ecstasy 6. The Way of True Men Conclusion Further Reading and Bibliography Index
