Description: -Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan; sometimes called The Zuo Commentary) is China's first great work of history. It consists of two interwoven texts: the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu, a terse annalistic record) and a vast web of narratives and speeches that add context and interpretation to the Annals. Completed by about 300 BCE, it is the longest and one of the most difficult texts surviving from pre-imperial times. It has been as important to the foundation and preservation of Chinese culture as the historical books of the Hebrew Bible have been to the Jewish and Christian traditions. It has shaped notions of history, justice, and the significance of human action in the Chinese tradition, perhaps more so than any comparable work of Latin or Greek historiography with respect to Western civilization. This translation, accompanied by the original text with an introduction and annotations, will finally make Zuozhuan accessible to all---Provided by publisher.
Brief description: Stephen Durrant is professor emeritus of Chinese language and literature, University of Oregon. He is the author of The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian (State University of New York Press, 1995); coauthor of The Siren and the Sage: Knowledge and Wisdom in Ancient Greece and China (Cassell, 2000); cotranslator of Zuo Traditions / Zuozhuan (University of Washington Press, 2017); and coeditor of Early China / Ancient Greece: Thinking through Comparisons (State University of New York Press, 2002).
Review Quotes:
"The translation team has successfully produced a work that is not only an English rendering but an accessible user manual for the Zuo Tradition...[T]his translation will at last allow the Zuo Tradition to take its proper place among the classics of world literature and ancient history."
-- "Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS)"