Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan [phrase omitted] Commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals".

• Author: Van Auken, Newell Ann
• Position: Book review

Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan [phrase omitted] Commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals". Translated with an introduction by STEPHEN DURRANT, WAI-YEE LI, AND DAVID SCHABERG. 3 vols. Seattle: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS, 2016. Pp. xcv + 2147. $240.

In the introduction to the work under review, translators Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg correctly observe that "Zuozhuan deserves a place alongside other great histories from the ancient world" (p. xvii) and suggest several reasons, all connected to the nature of the text and its transmission, to account for why it has not achieved such a place. Yet there is a much simpler explanation: until now, no accessible English translation has been available. Translation is the vehicle through which most readers encounter classics from other traditions, and, for better or for worse, the "world literature canon" primarily comprises works that have been brought across into English. Thus, for example, a contemporary writer whose work has not been translated into English has no hope of winning a Nobel prize for literature, and brilliant works rendered poorly in English also stand little chance.

The Zuozhuan (Zuo zhuan [phrase omitted], or Zuo Tradition) is one of three major commentarial works associated with the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu [phrase omitted], often simply "Annals" in the work reviewed here). The Zuo Tradition is a core text in the Chinese historiographical and literary traditions: it is the lengthiest work of history from pre-imperial China and often the most ancient (if not only) source for events during the era it covers, and it is renowned for the style of its prose and the rhetorical brilliance of the speeches it records. Yet despite the Zuo Tradition's lofty position in the Classical Chinese canon, it is not well known among anglophone readers. Interest in the writings of ancient China certainly exists, and other early works, including the Analects (Lunyu [phrase omitted]), Mencius (Mengzi [phrase omitted]), Laozi (Laozi [phrase omitted] Dao de jing [phrase omitted]), and the Book of Changes (Yijing [phrase omitted]), have been brought across into English multiple times in complete translations that are both readable and scholarly. Yet the only full English translation of the Zuo Tradition, prepared by James Legge in 1872, is dated and difficult to follow. Other translations include a French rendering by Se'raphin Couvreur (1914) and, more recently, a translation of selections comprising less than a quarter of the text by Burton Watson (1989). A complete, updated translation has long been needed in order for the Zuo Tradition to take its rightful place in the canon of world literature, and this magnificent work, which has already garnered the 2018 AAS Patrick D. Hanan Book Prize for Translation, does an admirable job of satisfying that need.

The translation team has successfully produced a work that is not only an English rendering but an accessible user manual for the Zuo Tradition. Front matter (reproduced in all three volumes) includes a chronology of Chinese dynasties and a series of helpful maps. A substantial introduction (pp. xvii-xcv) provides background on the Zuo Tradition and "Annals" and an overview of Spring and Autumn period history, explains translation conventions, and discusses the origins and textual history of the Zuo Tradition along with its place in the Chinese exegetical, historiographical, and literary traditions. The end matter comprises an exhaustive bibliography followed by indices of place names and personal names, which include additional detail such as modern-day location (places), or alternative names, lineage, and home state (people).

The translation itself is presented in a fashion that is exceptionally easy to navigate. The Classical Chinese source text and English translation are printed on facing pages, and great care has been taken to ensure that they correspond precisely. The major divisions of the Zuo Tradition, corresponding to the twelve rulers or "Lords" whose reigns it covers, are noted at the bottom of each page, and both Chinese and English text are marked with the year and divided into numbered sections. Section numbers indicate correspondences between the "Annals" and Zuo Tradition and also cross-reference the Chinese and English, facilitating easy movement between source and translation. Although the base text for the translation is the Thirteen Classics edition of Ruan Yuan [phrase omitted] (1764-1849) (p. xxxii), section numbers are keyed to those used in Yang Bdjun's [phrase omitted] Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu [phrase omitted] (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1990), the best and most widely used modern edition, a boon to scholars wishing to consult the translation in conjunction with Yang Bojun's annotated text.

Like the physical layout, translation conventions and annotations are above all aimed at making this complex work easier to follow. As all experienced translators realize, translation choices inevitably...