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From: jmc@wuphys.wustl.edu (Jimmy Chen)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Military Books
Message-ID: <1991May22.035049.28162@amd.com>
Date: 21 May 91 07:32:49 GMT
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From: jmc@wuphys.wustl.edu (Jimmy Chen)


> "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.  

IMHO:
The best translation of the Sunzi Bing Fa (Sun Tzu's Art of War) is by
Brig. General Samuel B. Griffith (Oxford University Press 1963).  Done
as part of his Ph.D., it has a foreward by B.H. Liddell-Hart.  It
translates Sunzi's points, the various commentator's notes, has a
chapter on Mao's guerilla warfare, and more.  In addition, it includes
translations of Wu Ch'i's Art of War.

To show how good it is, I came across a new translation by a People's
Republic of China general somebody (it might be Zhang, but I really
don't remember).  After a brief skimming, I concluded that it is a
word-for-word ripoff of Griffith's translation.  All this guy did was
add his own somewhat shallow comments.  If imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, then plagiarism must be divine.

Also, there is a translation by James Clavell of Noble House, Tai-Pan,
Shogun fame.  It's ok, but Griffith's is more scholarly.

As to Thomas Cleary's translation, I don't really know since I've never
read it.  But, I have a copy of his Mastering The Art of War.  All I
can say about this book is, Don't Buy It.  In a word, it's trite.  He
has a habit of telling stories from Chinese history with all their
sweet juices sucked out.  Instead of a pithy story with a definite
point, people, and places, we read a rather vague shadow of it.  All
names and places have been excised.  Maybe he thought this makes it
easier for American readers, but it really pissed me off.  If his Sunzi
Bing Fa is anything like this, it must be awful.

--
Jimmy Chen
jmc@wuphys.wustl.edu