Tao Te Ching: A New Translation - Couverture rigide

Tzu, Lao

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1590300114 ISBN 13 : 9781590300114

Editeur : Shambhala Publications Inc, 2005

Synopsis

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A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The most widely read of the Asian classics, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching offers a series of insightful spiritual observations on life and human nature. Part poetry, part paradox, always stirring and profound, the text has been inspiring readers since it was written over two thousand years ago. This extraordinary masterpiece is also one of the most frequently translated books in all of history, in part because it is simply impossible to translate into a Western language in a strictly literal way; there are just too many Chinese characters in the text that convey multiple meanings. This leads many translators to burden the text by having their translation explain too much, thereby losing the clarity of terse poetry that is so often found in the original.

The extraordinary strength of Sam Hamill's translation is that he has captured the poetry of Lao Tzu's original without sacrificing the resonance of the text's many meanings and possible interpretations. The result is a beautiful and deeply meditative rendering, one that is a delight to read over and over again. Accompanying Sam Hamill's translation are eighteen original calligraphies by one of the great masters of the art form, Kazuaki Tanahashi. Each calligraphy is of one Chinese word or character from the text itself, presented facing its appearance in the translation. Hamill then, in a caption to the calligraphy, offers just some of the many ways in which the Chinese character could be translated into English, giving the reader a fuller sense of the amazing richness of the original text and some idea as to the process of translation itself.

Revue de presse

"Sam Hamill's new translation of the Tao Te Ching is what one could hope a new version—a poet's version—of this indispensable and incomparable text might be, but would hardly dare hope for. It is a kind of revelation of a heretofore-unknown aspect of the original and of its poetry, something that had not quite existed before in English. It brings us a fresh sense of the text, a new way of hearing it and intuiting it based on Hamill's years of study of the original Chinese words and careful listening to them. His grasp of these words has been guided also by many years of Zen practice, one of the ancestral sources of which is the Tao Te Ching itself. This is a version of rare lucidity and beauty, bringing the Tao Te Ching surprisingly close to us, at once intimate and intangible, and reminding us that it is, from the beginning, poetry." —W. S. Merwin

"At a time when it is hard to know what to believe and whom, Sam Hamill's translation of the Tao Te Ching offers us spare beauty on the page, reminding us not only what is possible, but necessary. Wise and at times puzzling, this bare-boned translation of one of the world's most sacred texts is both poetry and prophecy."—Terry Tempest Williams

"Sam Hamill has reached the category of a National Treasure, though I doubt he'd like the idea."—Jim Harrison

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Shambhala Publications Inc
• Date d'édition: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1590300114
• ISBN 13: 9781590300114
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 128