New Visions of the Zhuangzi

145 New Visions of the Zhuangzi SHARON SMALL This paper offers a bibliographical review of major English language works on the Zhuangzi in the first decade of the 21st century. It covers translations and interpretive works, each in chronological order. Translations Höchsmann, Hyun, and Guorong Yang. 2006. Zhuangzi. New York: Pearson Longman. xix, 342 pp. The 82‑page introduction covers the history of philosophical thought in ancient China and compares Zhuangzi, his contemporaries, and Western philosophers, such as the pre‑Socratic Heraclitus (535‑475 BCE) and the German phenomenologist Martin Heidegger (1889‑1976). The book then contains a full translation of the Zhuangzi, offering an accessible translation for both scholars and general readers. The transla‑ tion follows the Qing dynasty edition in Guo Qingfan’s 郭慶藩 Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋 (A Variorum Zhuangzi; dat. 1894.) and is based on the recent bilingual (modern Chinese and English) rendition (Qin and Sun 1999). Exquisitely compiled footnotes and meticulous explanatory notes draw close attention to both the work of other translators and to East‑West philosophical comparisons. Wu, Chung. 2008. The Wisdom of Zhuangzi on Daoism. New York: Peter Lang. vi, 452 pp. A professor of biochemistry at the University of Michigan, Wu is neither a Daoist scholar nor a sinologist. Yet his edition of the Zhuangzi offers a substantial contribution since it is the first translation to include annotations and commentaries in addition to hundreds of notes. His work is strongly based on Chen Guyingʹs 陳鼓應 1976 edition, which forms an eclectic study of many earlier versions and identifies probable 146 / Journal of Daoist Studies 6 (2013) forgeries. This book is intended for scholars, not for the first‑time readers of Zhuangzi’s philosophy. Chai, David. 2008. Early Zhuangzi Commentaries: On the Sounds and Mean‑ ings of the Inner Chapters. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag. 259 pp. In the wake of his dissertation, which analyzes the text and com‑ mentaries of the Zhuangzi (Chai 2007), Chai here begins with a historical account of the Zhuangzi, then provides a section‑by‑section translation and textual analysis of the first seven chapters based on the earliest commentaries, i.e., those before Guo Xiang. Five such commentaries have survived in fragments and citations, notably in the Zhuangzi yinyi 莊子音譯 (Sounds and Meanings of the Zhuangzi) by the Tang scholar Lu Deming 陸德明. The author makes the original text as accessible as possible by pro‑ viding copious notations in addition to the original Chinese. He offers a phonetic and hermeneutic reading of these commentators Mitchell, Stephen. 2009. The Second Book of the Tao: Compiled and Adapted from the Chuang‑Tzu and the Chung Yung, with Commentaries. New York: Penguin Press. xvi, 202 pp. The author creatively selects sections from the Zhuangzi 莊子 and the Zhongyong 中庸 (Doctrine of the Mean). Although this paring may be questioned by most scholars, the interpretive view is “vertical, not hori‑ zontal,” meaning issues to be compared are based solely on ideas. Thus there is no interest in the sinological debate over “schools” of thought, nor of historical compatibility. As Mitchell is not a sinologist, nor has any knowledge of the Chi‑ nese languages, he writes as an interpreter rather than a translator. The book is accordingly compiled and adapted from over a dozen prior translations. On the left side are excerpts, while on the right hand pp the author offers his own commentaries. This book is suitable for the layper‑ son with no prior knowledge of Chinese philosophy, and for the scholar eschewing accuracy in favor of a humorous and refreshing perspective. Small, “New Visions of the Zhuangzi” / 147 Ziporyn, Brook. 2009. Zhuangzi: The essential Writings with a Selection of Traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. xviii, 238 pp. This book has four sections: a brief introduction, a translation of the complete inner chapters and selections from the outer and miscellaneous chapters, translation of selections from traditional commentaries on the Inner chapters, and a glossary of essential terms, a list of over fifty com‑ mentators with a short informative paragraph on each one, and a de‑ tailed bibliography. Another section is on the publisher’s website where the author refers readers to the end of his brief introduction.131 The website also includes four essays and five...