Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is impossible to do justice to this monumental publication in a brief review; let me merely emphasize that these renowned translators, working as a trio, amount to even more than the sum of their parts because their strengths are complementary. No single human being could have handled so many aspects of this text . . . which is compact but rooted in three lifetimes of learning and reflection."
-- Paul R. Goldin
"The three scholars who have joined forces to produce this new translation are. . . to be heartily congratulated. The resulting publication is. . . eminently readable, with bilingual text, helpfully divided into coherent sections, and annotation that provides necessary explanations without overwhelming the reader with minutiae. . . Naturally it is impossible to do justice to this monumental publication in a brief review; let me merely emphasize that these renowned translators, working as a trio, amount to even more than the sum of their parts because their strengths are complementary."
* Critical Inquiry *
"The translation team has successfully produced a work that is not only an English rendering but an accessible user manual for the Zuo Tradition...[T]his translation will at last allow the Zuo Tradition to take its proper place among the classics of world literature and ancient history."
* Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) *
"This is a long-awaited monumental work that keeps what has been promised: It is a very well readable translation of the first major narrative history of China, one that for many years to come will replace the version that James Legge produced almost 150 years ago."
* Monumenta Serica *
"[A] precise, elegant—and, yes, reader-friendly—translation that brings out many nuances in the text that had heretofore been lost to the English reader. Zuo Tradition does not merely complement Legge’s translation but supersedes it. It will itself be the new “measuring rod” in Zuozhuan studies."
* The Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture *
"This is one of the greatest translations of the Chinese classical works into English."
* Asian and African Studies *
"[N]ow, at last, we have a convenient, bilingual, and helpfully annotated edition from which to study this immensely rich work…Some books are so physically beautiful and so eminently useful that one is sorely tempted to celebrate their publication instead of reviewing them. Zuo Tradition is one of these wonderful publications that literally everyone with any interest in traditional China will need to hurry to buy. The book is handsomely produced, lavishly bound, and it is the result of many, many years of intensive cooperation between three of the world’s leading scholars in the field…Thus this is not only a singularly beautiful printed object, it is also an authoritative translation if ever there was one, by the leading US scholars in the field. It seems bound to become a classic of sinology."
* Journal of Chinese Studies *
"The quality of this translation as well as the accompanying introduction and critical apparatus are a strong argument for the long overdue insight that solid translation work must no longer be relegated to a secondary position in academia but deserves the same recognition as primarily interpretive or systematizing studies. The students of early China and ancient history in general owe immense gratitude to Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg for this truly exemplary magnum opus."
* China Review International *
"It is to be hoped that the Zuozhuan Reader will whet the appetite of future students to explore the full world of the Zuozhuan when having read the starters presented here… the Reader-version will present a good starting-point for a new generation of scholars who will try to unravel the enigma of the Zuozhuan itself and to take scholarship concerning this first narrative history of ancient China to a level unreached so far."
* Monumenta Serica *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Chronology of Dynasties
Reigns of Lords of the Domain of Lu
Map of the Major Domains and Peoples during the Spring and Autumn Period
Introduction
Chapter 1
On Reading and Anthologizing Zuozhuan
Chapter 2
Succession Struggles and Assassinations
Chapter 3
Women
Chapter 4
The Overlord: Chong'er, Lord Wen of Jin
Chapter 5
Warfare
Chapter 6
Ritual Propriety
Chapter 7
Temporal Order and the Arc of History
Chapter 8
Governance
Chapter 9
Law and Punishment
Chapter 10
The Tragedy of King Ling of Chu
Chapter 11
Two Famous Statesmen: Zichan and Yan Ying
Chapter 12
Diplomacy
Chapter 13
Confucius and His Disciples
Chapter 14
Dreams and Anomalies
Chapter 15
Cultural Others
Further Reading
Passage Index
Subject Index
