The influence of the
Tao Te Ching pervades Le Guin's work, quite
extensively in novels such as
A Wizard of Earthsea and
The Left
Hand of Darkness. It is no surprise, then, to learn that she has
been studying it since she was a teenager, seeking out and comparing
different translations. She herself knows no Chinese and what she
offers here is a rendition rather than a translation; she has also taken
the liberty of leaving out verses she feels are inconsistent with the
others, as likely intrusions. This is not then a scholarly edition,
and no longer a guide for rulers, but a powerful and accessible Book of
the Way, "the most lovable of the great religious texts, funny, keen,
kind, modest, indestructibly outrageous, and inexhaustibly refreshing".
Le Guin's commentary (some footnotes, mostly endnotes) is also valuable,
and the whole is packaged in an attractive volume.
October 1997
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