Arthur Waley translated and annotated The Analects of Confucius. This is a book that I have kept around since college. I've lived in South Korea, which derives much of its culture from "Confucianism," and I have taken a few trips to China, where I've had tours and lectures on Confucius thought. Nearly everything I have learned about Confucius as a learner and educator has inspired me as a learner and educator. He is referred to as a "resilient idealist." In an imperfect world, he walked the uphill path everyday towards idealism and peace, and he felt that this walk was worthwhile. Some common misconceptions of Confucius is that he is some kind of god, which many Westerners may assume when they visit Confucius Temples in China and see grand sculptures and paintings of him in places called temples. While there may be some who consider him to be a god or prophet, it is better to see him as a great scholar and learner.
In this translation of The Analects of Confucius by Arthur Waley, I first have to comment on his complete loyalty to context for interpreting and expressing these "Selected Sayings." In his introduction, Waley takes great pains to contextualize key terms, vocabulary, and phrases. I admire his discipline in his translation process. As an English teacher, I appreciate how significant the context in which a word is placed impacts its meaning. Waley writes:
"Thought grows out of environment. Ideally speaking the translator of such a book as the Analects ought to furnish a complete analysis of early Chinese society, of the processes of which were at work within it and of the outside forces to which it reacted. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the period is far too incomplete for any such synthesis to be possible. The literary documents are scanty and of uncertain date; scientific archaeology in China has suffered constant setbacks and is still in its infancy. All that I have attempted in the following pages is to arrange such information as is accessible under a series of disconnected headings, in a convenient order, but without pretense of unity or logical sequence" (p. 13).
I admire the intellectual humility that Waley presents in this introduction to his translation. It reveals the disciplined attention to detail that he spends on each word in his translation. He is acutely aware that words are historical and that their historicity affects their meaning. To understand the Analects, the appropriate process is to first understand the sayings as they were intended to have meaning within the historical context to which they were responding to. Then, we would analyze how these meanings could be reconstructed to make meaning in a modern context. I believe this is the process of translation that occurs any time we try to interpret the meaning of something in a new context. Just in this case, we are attempting to interpret some ideas uttered over 2000 years ago. (This is the same struggle with comprehending Shakespeare. So much of his meaning and wit is highly contextualized. It is necessary to understand the context before the wealth of meaning can be realized.)
This turned into a tangent on translation and context. Posts on the content of Confucius' Analects will have to occur another time.
