Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were the

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1952, the

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

in 1953, and he was invested as a Companion of Honour in 1956. Although highly learned, Waley avoided academic posts and most often wrote for a general audience. He chose not to be a specialist but to translate a wide and personal range of classical literature. Starting in the 1910s and continuing steadily almost until his death in 1966, these translations started with poetry, such as ''A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems'' (1918) and ''Japanese Poetry: The Uta'' (1919), then an equally wide range of novels, such as '' The Tale of Genji'' (1925–26), an 11th-century Japanese work, and ''Monkey'', from 16th-century China. Waley also presented and translated Chinese philosophy, wrote biographies of literary figures, and maintained a lifelong interest in both Asian and Western paintings. A recent evaluation called Waley "the great transmitter of the high literary cultures of China and Japan to the English-reading general public; the ambassador from East to West in the first half of the 20th century", and went on to say that he was "self-taught, but reached remarkable levels of fluency, even erudition, in both languages. It was a unique achievement, possible (as he himself later noted) only in that time, and unlikely to be repeated."

Life

Arthur Waley was born Arthur David Schloss on 19 August 1889 in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The son of an economist, David Frederick Schloss, he was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and entered

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, in 1907 on a scholarship to study Classics, but left in 1910 due to eye problems that hindered his ability to study. Waley briefly worked in an export firm in an attempt to please his parents, but in 1913 he was appointed Assistant Keeper of Oriental Prints and Manuscripts at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Waley's supervisor at the Museum was the poet and scholar Laurence Binyon, and under his nominal tutelage, Waley taught himself to read

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

and Classical Japanese, partly to help catalogue the paintings in the Museum's collection. Despite this, he never learned to speak either modern

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and never visited either China or Japan. Waley was of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. He changed his surname from Schloss in 1914, when, like many others in England with German surnames, he sought to avoid the anti-German prejudice common in Britain during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Waley entered into a lifelong relationship with the English ballet dancer, orientalist, dance critic, and dance researcher Beryl de Zoete, whom he met in 1918 but never married. Waley left the British Museum in 1929 to devote himself fully to writing and translation, and never held a full-time job again, except for a four-year stint in the Ministry of Information during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In September 1939, he had been recruited to run the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information. Assisted by Captain

Oswald Tuck Instructor Captain Oswald Thomas Tuck (1 September 1876 – 26 February 1950) was a naval officer and teacher of Japanese. He served as a naval instructor in navigation and Japanese and later translated a confidential history of the Russo-Japanes ...

RN, he was responsible for checking the dispatches of Japanese journalists in London, private mail in Japanese and intercepted diplomatic signals from the Japanese Embassy in London. Waley lived in Bloomsbury and had a number of friends among the Bloomsbury Group, many of whom he had met when he was an undergraduate. He was one of the earliest to recognise Ronald Firbank as an accomplished author and, together with the writer

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and ...

, provided an introduction to the first edition of Firbank's collected works. The poet Ezra Pound was instrumental in getting Waley's first translations into print in '' The Little Review''. His view of Waley's early work was mixed, however. As he wrote to Margaret Anderson, the editor of the ''Little Review'', in a letter of 2 July 1917: "Have at last got hold of Waley's translations from Po chu I. Some of the poems are magnificent. Nearly all the translations marred by his bungling English and defective rhythm. ... I shall try to buy the best ones, and to get him to remove some of the botched places. (He is stubborn as a donkey, or a ''scholar''.)" In his introduction to his translation of ''The Way and its Power'', Waley explains that he was careful to put meaning above style in translations where meaning would be reasonably considered of more importance to the modern Western reader. Waley married Alison Grant Robinson in May 1966, one month before his death on 27 June. He is buried in an unmarked grave (plot no. 51178) on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

in front of the grave of the sculptor Joseph Edwards. The writer

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

, who considered Waley "the greatest scholar and the person with most understanding of all human arts" that he had known in his lifetime, later recalled Waley's last days,

Honours

Waley was elected an honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge in 1945, received the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) honor in 1952, the

in 1953, and the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1956.

Works

Jonathan Spence wrote of Waley's translations that he His many translations include ''A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems'' (1918), ''Japanese Poetry: The Uta'' (1919), ''The No Plays of Japan'' (1921), '' The Tale of Genji'' (published in 6 volumes from 1921 to 1933), ''

The Pillow Book is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 1000s in Heian-period Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002. The work is a collection o ...

of Sei Shōnagon'' (1928), The '' Kutune Shirka'' (1951), '' Monkey'' (1942, an abridged version of ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popul ...

''), ''The Poetry and Career of Li Po'' (1959) and ''The Secret History of the Mongols and Other Pieces'' (1964). Waley received the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for his translation of ''Monkey''. His translations of the classics, the '' Analects of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

'' and ''The Way and Its Power'' ( Tao Te Ching), are still in print, as is his interpretive presentation of classical Chinese philosophy, ''Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China'' (1939). Waley's translations of verse are widely regarded as poems in their own right, and have been included in many anthologies such as the ''

Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935 The ''Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935'' was a poetry anthology edited by W. B. Yeats, and published in 1936 by Oxford University Press. A long and interesting introductory essay starts from the proposition that the poets included should ...

'', ''

The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse ''The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse'' is a poetry anthology edited by Philip Larkin. It was published in 1973 by Oxford University Press with . Larkin writes in the short preface that the selection is wide rather than deep; and a ...

'' and the '' Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse (1918–1960)'' under Waley's name. Many of his original translations and commentaries have been re-published as

Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the West ...

and Wordsworth Classics, reaching a wide readership. Despite translating many Chinese and Japanese classical texts into English, Waley never travelled to either country, or anywhere else in East Asia. In his preface to ''The Secret History of the Mongols'', he writes that he was not a master of many languages, but claims to have known Chinese and Japanese fairly well, a good deal of Ainu and Mongolian, and some

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

. The composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

set six translations from Waley's ''Chinese Poems'' (1946) for high voice and guitar in his

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

'' Songs from the Chinese'' (1957).

Selected works

Translations

* ''A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems'', 1918 * ''More Translations from the Chinese'' (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1919). ** ''The Story of Ts'ui Ying-ying'' ('' Yingying zhuan'') – pp. 101–113Nienhauser, William H. "Introduction." In: Nienhauser, William H. (editor). ''Tang Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader''.

World Scientific World Scientific Publishing is an academic publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in 1981. It publishes about 600 books annually, along with 135 journals in various ...

, 2010. , 9789814287289. p
xv
** ''The Story of Miss Li'' ('' The Tale of Li Wa'') – pp. 113–136 * ''Japanese Poetry: The Uta'', 1919. A selection mostly drawn from the '' Man'yōshū'' and the '' Kokinshū''. * '' The Nō Plays of Japan'', 1921 * ''The Temple and Other Poems'', 1923 * '' The Tale of Genji'', by Lady Murasaki, 1925–1933 * ''

of Sei Shōnagon'', 1928 * ''The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought'', 1934. A commentary on ''Tao Te ching'', attributed to Laozi, and full translation. * ''The Book of Songs'' ('' Shih Ching''), 1937 * ''The Analects of

'', 1938 * ''Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China'', 1939 * ''Translations from the Chinese'', a compilation, 1941 * '' Monkey'', 1942, translation of 30 of the 100 chapters of

Wu Cheng'en Wu Cheng'en (, c. 1500–1582Shi Changyu (1999). "Introduction." in trans. W.J.F. Jenner, ''Journey to the West'', volume 1. Seventh Edition. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 1–22. or 1505–1580), courtesy name Ruzhong (), was a Chines ...

's ''

'' * ''Chinese Poems'', 1946 * ''77 Poems'', Alberto de Lacerda, 1955 * ''The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China'',

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the '' ...

, 1955 * '' Yuan Mei: Eighteenth-Century Chinese Poet'', 1956 * ''Ballads and Stories from Tun-Huang'', 1960

Original works

* ''Introduction to the Study of Chinese Painting'', 1923 * ''The Life and Times of Po Chü-I'', 1949 * ''The Poetry and Career of Li Po'', 1950 (with some original translations) * ''The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces'', 1952 (with some original and previously published translations) * ''The Opium War through Chinese Eyes'', 1958 * ''

The Secret History of the Mongols ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...

'', 1963 (with original translations)

References

Sources

"Arthur Waley, 76, Orientalist, Dead; Translator of Chinese and Japanese Literature"
''New York Times''. 28 June 1966. * Gruchy, John Walter de. (2003). ''Orienting Arthur Waley: Japonism, Orientalism, and the Creation of Japanese Literature in English''. Honolulu:

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. 1ISBN 0-8248-2567-5. * * Johns, Francis A. (1968). ''A Bibliography of Arthur Waley''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. * * Morris, Ivan I. (1970). ''Madly Singing in the Mountains: An Appreciation and Anthology of Arthur Waley''. London: Allen & Unwin. * * * Spence, Jonathan. "Arthur Waley", in, ''Chinese Roundabout'' (New York: Norton, 1992 ), pp. 329–336

* Waley, Alison. (1982). ''A Half of Two Lives''. London: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson. (Reprinted in 1983 by McGraw-Hill.)

External links

* E. Bruce Brooks
"Arthur Waley"
Warring States Project, University of Massachusetts.
Waley's translation of ''The Way and Its Power''
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waley, Arthur 1889 births 1966 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English poets 20th-century translators Academics of SOAS University of London Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British Japanologists British sinologists Burials at Highgate Cemetery Chinese–English translators Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Employees of the British Museum English male poets Fellows of King's College, Cambridge James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Japanese–English translators Japanese literature academics Literary translators Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour People from Royal Tunbridge Wells