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spacestationtrustfund's review
3.0
There have been quite a few translations of the 《莊子》 [zhuāngzi] into various languages. Unfortunately, none of the English translations are good per se, although some are notably better or worse than others. This is not entirely the fault of the translations: there are two major complications in translating the Zhuangzi.
The first of these complications is that the text is generally believed to have been "finished" as late as the Qin dynasty, after the unification under the founding emperor; the "inner chapters," considered the most authentic (i.e., most likely to have been written by Zhuangzi himself), date back to around the 2nd century BCE. Because much of the focus of the text is political (primarily against preceding schools of philosophy), the satirical and parodic elements are incredibly difficult to understand without a thorough understanding of pre-Qin Chinese philosophy as well as contemporary thought. The second complication is the fact that the text as it stands is very corrupt: early texts were written on bamboo slips which were then bound with fibre thongs. Bamboo is a very hardy material, but the bindings deteriorated rather easily, meaning the bamboo strips had to be reassembled and rebound, and this often resulted in unconsecutive order of the sections. This problem occurred frequently (think ancient Egyptian papyrus, Greek wax tablets, Sumerian stone carvings), but the Zhuangzi is one of the worst affected texts.
An updated second edition was published in 1996, and a third edition in 2003 changed the romanisation from Wade-Giles to hanyu pinyin. Watson also published a more complete translation in 1968 under the title The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, but this retains the same issues as his previous work.
Actually, it depends on how much. But it'd have to be a whole lot.
One of the major benefits to Graham's translation is his decades-long dedication to organising the bamboo strips in what he considered the most likely order (rather than the simplest or most readable) in order to produce a translation as close to the original text as possible. Graham also translates character-by-character in order to produce a "skeleton" upon which he can then build a more complete "body," which is a method of translating character-based languages that I myself find very effective. However, Graham's methodology falls apart in his attempt to use a single consistent English word for each character, which is not a viable approach; Chinese characters, like English words, almost always have multiple possible meanings. The translated text is, as a result, rather clunky to read, although I've found that Graham's translation works best in an pedagogic setting for students of Chinese or even translation studies, which was part of Graham's intention.
The first of these complications is that the text is generally believed to have been "finished" as late as the Qin dynasty, after the unification under the founding emperor; the "inner chapters," considered the most authentic (i.e., most likely to have been written by Zhuangzi himself), date back to around the 2nd century BCE. Because much of the focus of the text is political (primarily against preceding schools of philosophy), the satirical and parodic elements are incredibly difficult to understand without a thorough understanding of pre-Qin Chinese philosophy as well as contemporary thought. The second complication is the fact that the text as it stands is very corrupt: early texts were written on bamboo slips which were then bound with fibre thongs. Bamboo is a very hardy material, but the bindings deteriorated rather easily, meaning the bamboo strips had to be reassembled and rebound, and this often resulted in unconsecutive order of the sections. This problem occurred frequently (think ancient Egyptian papyrus, Greek wax tablets, Sumerian stone carvings), but the Zhuangzi is one of the worst affected texts.
HERBERT GILES (1889)Originally published under the title Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist and Social Reformer, then revised for the second edition in 1926, Giles's translation is... bad. It's in the public domain, meaning it's freely and easily accessible online, but the only situation in which I'd condone reading this translation is if you genuinely cannot find another.
JAMES LEGGE (1891)Originally included in the series Sacred Books of the East, and now in the public domain and thus available online. Legge's translations suck. Don't read this one.
FENG YOULAN (1933)The [b:translation|30778051|Chuang-tzu 庄子(汉英双语)(精)|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1467100362l/30778051._SX50_.jpg|49575648] by Feng Youlan (馮友蘭, Fung Yu-lan in Wade-Giles) is, as far as I'm aware, only one of two English-language translations done by actual Chinese (with the second being Profs. Yang Guorong and Hyun Höchsmann in 2006). I'm pretty sure this translation is out of print and not easily available anywhere, and you're not really missing much, due to the fact that it's almost a century old.
BURTON WATSON (1964)For all my issues with Burton Watson, I have to concede that his is actually one of the best available English-language translations. Watson's [b:translation|313977|The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532154187l/313977._SX50_.jpg|49575648] is more formal than the previous, although he still takes a more straightforward approach, positioning the text as a coherent whole and allowing himself considerable leeway in translating it. It reads well in English, but a quick look at Watson's notes will show that it's quite obvious he was in way over his head. Watson includes various notes on each page with the purpose of explaining as much as he can (puns and double entendres, namedropping, titles of now-lost books, references to politics or philosophy, etc.). However, despite the value of the scholarly notes and other material, the accuracy of Watson's translation itself is not very good.
An updated second edition was published in 1996, and a third edition in 2003 changed the romanisation from Wade-Giles to hanyu pinyin. Watson also published a more complete translation in 1968 under the title The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, but this retains the same issues as his previous work.
THOMAS MERTON (1965)Merton did not know a word of Chinese when he published this "[b:translation|575621|The Way of Chuang Tzu|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1470392696l/575621._SY75_.jpg|945216]." Consequently, the text is riddled with major errors, far too much Westernisation of the original, and overall a very loose interpretation. I would not recommend this "translation" even if you paid me.
Actually, it depends on how much. But it'd have to be a whole lot.
A.C. GRAHAM (1981)Alongside Watson's Graham's [b:translation|313980|Chuang Tzu|Zhuangzi|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|49575648] is one of the most academic, with excellent notes and scholarly supporting material. Graham reorganises the text according to his own interpretation of how it should be, meaning that newer translations will be in a different order, and a few passages and chapters are omitted. Otherwise, apart from being slightly outdated, this remains one of the best options available. Graham originally published his notes on the translation separately in 1982 ("Textual Notes to a Partial Translation"), but I believe newer editions combine both texts.
One of the major benefits to Graham's translation is his decades-long dedication to organising the bamboo strips in what he considered the most likely order (rather than the simplest or most readable) in order to produce a translation as close to the original text as possible. Graham also translates character-by-character in order to produce a "skeleton" upon which he can then build a more complete "body," which is a method of translating character-based languages that I myself find very effective. However, Graham's methodology falls apart in his attempt to use a single consistent English word for each character, which is not a viable approach; Chinese characters, like English words, almost always have multiple possible meanings. The translated text is, as a result, rather clunky to read, although I've found that Graham's translation works best in an pedagogic setting for students of Chinese or even translation studies, which was part of Graham's intention.
VICTOR H. MAIR (1994)Mair's [b:translation|2076552|Wandering on the Way Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266520358l/2076552._SY75_.jpg|73347507], like Graham's before it, is solidly academic, and was considered the standard for quite a while. It is currently and correctly considered to be rather outdated, and there are a handful of notable errors in the translation and scholarship, but it remains (as far as I'm aware) one of the most popular translations taught in academic settings.
MARTIN PALMER (1996)This is the [b:translation|313974|The Book of Chuang Tzu|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311645953l/313974._SY75_.jpg|49575648] chosen by Penguin Classics for their 2007 edition of the Zhuangzi. I've historically been disappointed by Penguin's choice of translators for their works, and this is sadly no exception: Palmer's translations reads much more like Perrault's Contes than anything resembling an academic work, with highly simplified and accessible language, no notes or references, and little contextual information. I would not personally recommend this translation, although I could see the appeal for someone who doesn't actually want to engage with the Zhuangzi. It's better than Watson's in terms of accuracy, but that's about it.
DAVID HINTON (1997)David Hinton is an interesting character. Some of his translations are excellent; others are some of the worst I've ever read. In his [b:translation|20505606|Chuang Tzu The Inner Chapters|David Hinton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389374904l/20505606._SY75_.jpg|49575648] of the Zhuangzi, I'm of the opinion that he takes too many liberties and employs poetic licence too liberally in order for the finished product to be considered a "good" translation by my metrics, but yours may differ. Hinton's is not an academic translation.
SAM HAMILL & J.P. SEATON (1998)TBA.
HYUN HÖCHSMANN & YANG GUORONG (2006)Profs. Höchsmann and Yang translate the entire text in an academic manner, highly accurate and complete with excellent scholarly notes and supporting material. There are a few errors throughout, but none major enough to detract from the overall quality of the work, in my opinion; I've found that Höchsmann's and Yang's [b:translation|51485|Zhuangzi (Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy)|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348020765l/51485._SY75_.jpg|49575648] is one of the best available regardless.
BROOK ZIPORYN (2009)Generally an acceptably accurate [b:translation|7556025|Zhuangzi The Essential Writings With Selections from Traditional Commentaries|Zhuangzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359613676l/7556025._SY75_.jpg|49575617] with a scholarly feel, despite a good handful of translation oddities and/or errors. More important in my opinion is the fact that Ziporyn's translation only includes around half of the salvageable text. I've heard he published a more complete translation in 2020 but have yet to read it; if I do I'll update this accordingly.
HONOURABLE MENTIONSObviously the first I have to mention is Modern Chinese:
Cao Chuji 曹础基 (2007) - 庄子浅注（修订重排本） published by 中华书局 (Zhonghua Press). This contains the original text alongside an academic translation into Modern Chinese, complete with abundant scholarly notes and information. If you read Chinese, this is the edition to get.I'm aware of two Japanese translations:
Wang Rongpei (汪榕培), Quin Xuqing (秦旭卿), Sun Yongchang (孙雍长) (1999) - Zhuangzi | 莊子 (Chinese-English) published by Foreign Languages Press as part of the Library of Chinese Classics.
Fukunaga Mitsuji 福永光次 (1966) - 荘子 [Sôshi]. Published in three volumes.As far as I'm aware there's only been one translation in French:
Akatsuka Kiyoshi 赤塚志 (1977) - 荘子 [Sôshi]. Published in two volumes.
Liou Kia-Hway 劉家槐 (1969) - L'œuvre complète de Tchouang-Tseu. This is the first version I ever read, and I unfortunately can't recommend it unless you don't have any other options.In Spanish:
Iñaki Preciado (1996) - Zhuang Zi: Maestro Chuang Tsé. I'll admit in the interest of perspicacity that I haven't finished reading this translation, but I can reasonably say that Preciado's is possibly the most academic translation currently available in any language other than Chinese. The notes often occupy the majority of the page (and we all know how much I love footnotes). If you can read Spanish, I highly recommend this translation.There are, I'm sure, various other translations into different languages, but I either haven't encountered them or haven't read them, so I'll refrain from commenting.
CONCLUSIONAs you can probably surmise, the situation is pretty grim. Again, most of this is unavoidable, given the age and quality of the original manuscript. In terms of personal preference I would recommend Graham's translation as the best and most accurate English-language scholarly edition available, with Höchsmann's & Yang's and Mair's as backups. I would advise avoiding anything published before the 1980s, as well as Palmer's and Hinton's translations.
BONUSFor the more academically minded reader, I would recommend The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi on Daoism: Translated with Annotations and Commentaries by Chung Wu (2008).
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