Xunzi: Basic Writings

Xunzi

Columbia University Press, 2003 - Literary Criticism - 190 pages

Xunzi asserted that the original nature of man is evil, differing on this point from Mencius, his famous predecessor in the Confucian school. In the most complete, well-ordered philosophical system of his day, Xunzi advocated the counteraction of man's evil through self-improvement, the pursuit of learning, the avoidance of obsession, and observance of ritual in life. Readers familiar with Xunzi's work will find that Burton Watson's lucid translation breathes new life into this classic. Those new to Xunzi will find his ideas on government, language, and order and safety in society surprisingly close to concerns of our own age.

About the author

Burton DeWitt Watson was born in New Rochelle, New York on June 13, 1925. When he was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. He experienced Japan through his weekly shore leaves while stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in 1945. After returning to the United States, he received a bachelor's degree in Chinese in 1949 and a master's degree in Chinese in 1951 from Columbia University. He spent time learning Japanese as a graduate student at Kyoto University before receiving a doctorate in Chinese in 1956 from Columbia. He has taught English at Doshisha University in Kyoto and Chinese at Stanford University and Columbia. He became a translator of Chinese and Japanese literature and poetry. His numerous translations included Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the Tang Poet Han-shan, Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, and The Tso Chuan: Selections from China's Oldest Narrative History. His collections included Early Chinese Literature, Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century, From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry, and The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the 13th Century. He received Columbia University's Translation Center's Gold Medal Award in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1981 and 1995, and the Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 2015. He died on April 1, 2017 at the age of 91.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Xunzi: Basic Writings; Translations from the Asian classics
• Author: Xunzi
• Translated by: Burton Watson
• Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2003
• ISBN: 0231129653, 9780231129657
• Length: 190 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / Asian / General; Philosophy / Eastern; Philosophy / General; Philosophy / Good & Evil; Religion / Confucianism