The Art of War: Sun Zi's Military Methods

Sun Zi (Sun Tzu); Translated by Victor Mair

Paper, 256 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13383-8
$14.95 / £8.95

December, 2007
Cloth, 256 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13382-1
$19.95 / £11.95

"Mair provides insight on how this manual came to exist." — Indianapolis Star

"Lean, clear, all fustian removed." — Donald Richie, Japan Times

"Mair’s excellent new translation of Sunzi’s (Sun Tzu) Art of War . . . brings a new, and extremely useful perspective to the text." — Peter Lorge, Journal of Military History

"After reading Victor Mair's elegant new rendering of the ancient text, I was left without any doubt that it is an important contribution to our understanding of both the meaning of the text itself and the evolution of Chinese military thought. While some translations in the past have been informed by philosophical studies or the translator's own personal experience of modern warfare and intelligence matters, what Mair brings to bear is a remarkable feel for the Chinese language of ancient times that results in lucid and persuasive renderings of many of the more enigmatic and obscure passages. He steers a judicious course between the free translation and the overly literal, and further aids our comprehension by providing a concise glossary explaining the key terms that appear in the text." — David Graff, associate professor of history, Kansas State University

"Victor Mair's brilliant translation of the Sunzi bingfa is especially commendable for its clarity and elegance. Although this classic text of Chinese military thought enjoys several authoritative English translations, Mair succeeds in providing a novel, insightful, and yet rigorous approach to its history and interpretation. The author's consummate knowledge of Classical Chinese and sensitivity to the nuances of the text shows it in a genuinely fresh way. Mair presents the Sunzi bingfa not as an exotic well of wisdom but as a genuine historical product, and Western readers will be able to enjoy it on its own terms and understand better what they are reading, and why." — Nicola Di Cosmo, Princeton University

Related Subjects

• Asian/Islamic Philosophy
• East Asian Studies

Series

• Translations from the Asian Classics

About the Author

Victor Mair is a graduate of Dartmouth College, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and Harvard University. He is professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania and is the founder and editor of Sino-Platonic Papers, an academic journal that examines diverse aspects of Chinese language, script, and culture, paying particular attention to historical relationships with other societies in Eurasia. For the past two decades, he has led a major international investigation of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age peoples of Eastern Central Asia, a project that has resulted in numerous publications and several films. His Columbia books include The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature and The Columbia History of Chinese Literature.Victor H. Mair is Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds degrees from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies), Harvard University and Dartmouth College. Among his many publications are Popular Narratives from Tun-huang (Cambridge University Press, 1983), Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis (University of Hawaii Press, 1988), and T'ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China (Harvard University Council on East Asian Studies, 1988). Mair's translation, Tao Te Ching: The Chinese Book of Integrity and the Way, was published by Bantam in 1990. In 1994 we published his The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature, and in 2002 we published his edited volume, The Columbia History of Chinese Literature.

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