Fiction and Philosophy in the Zhuangzi: An Introduction to Early Chinese Taoist Thought

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Brimming with mythical imagination, poetic sallies, and often ferociously witty remarks, the Zhuangzi is one of Chinas greatest literary and philosophical masterpieces. Yet the complexities of this classical text can make it a challenging read. This English translation leads you confidently through the comic scenes and virtuoso writing style, introducing all the little stories Zhuangzi invented and unpicking its philosophical insights through close commentaries and helpful asides. Romain Graziani opens up the text as never before, showing how Zhuangzi uses the stories as an answer to Menciuss conception of sacrifice and self-cultivation, restoring the critical interplay with Confucius Analects, and guiding you through the themes of the animal world, sacrifice, political violence, meditation, illness, and death. In Grazianis translation, the co-founder of Taoism emerges as a remarkable thinker: a dedicated disparager of moral virtues who stubbornly resists any form of allegiance to social norms and the only Warring States figure to improvise with the darkest irony on the weaknesses of men and their docile subservience to the unquestioned authority of language. For anyone coming to Chinese philosophy or the Zhuangzi for the first time, this introduction and translation is a must-read, one that reminds us of the importance of thinking beyond our limited, everyday perspectives.

Reviews

The Zhuangzi is by far the most captivating, challenging and playfully profound piece of philosophical literature to have emerged from ancient China. Stringing together its stories and quirky characters with refreshingly new insight and zest, Graziani is a delightful reading companion to this fascinating text. * Roel Sterckx, Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science and Civilization, University of Cambridge, UK *
Graziani demonstrates through a series of close readings that the style and wit of the Zhuangzi are by no means achieved at the expense of philosophical depth that, rather, the works aesthetic appeal and moral seriousness are inseparable. For the first time, the works determined rejection of almost all the schemes of value current in Warring-States China is revealed. Zhuangzis art of dialogue, his empathy with unreliable characters, his handling of the taboo topic of death, his twists and turns, are patiently and wonderfully brought out. * Haun Saussy, University Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, USA *
The Zhuangzi is one of the most imaginative and inventive works in world philosophy. Through his nuanced analyses and outstanding translations, Graziani beautifully conveys the philosophical complexity, the literary subtlety, and the marvelous wit of this extraordinary text. This is a wonderful and tremendously exciting book. * Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, Harvard University, USA *
Luxuriating in the richness of the Zhuangzis delightfully irreverent stories, Graziani resists the pressure to distill tidy philosophical lessons from them. Instead, he unleashes his own dazzling literary skill to show how the fictional dimensions of the work are not simply a side show but form the living heart of the texts philosophical vision. * Curie Virg, Senior Researcher and Co-Project Director, University of Edinburgh, UK *

Author Bio

Romain Graziani is Professor in Chinese Studies at the cole Normale Suprieure de Lyon, France, and Senior Reader at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.