Arthur Waley

Arthur David Waley CH (August 19, 1889 – June 27, 1966) was a noted English Orientalist and Sinologist.

Waley was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent England, as Arthur David Schloss, son of the economist David Frederick Schloss. He changed his surname to his paternal grandmother's maiden name, Waley, in 1914. Educated at Rugby School, he entered King's College, Cambridge in 1907, where he studied Classics, and was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1910.

Early life and career

Waley was appointed Assistant Keeper of Oriental Prints and Manuscripts at the British Museum in 1913. During this time he taught himself Chinese and Japanese, partly to help catalogue the paintings in the Museum's collection. He quit in 1929 to devote himself fully to his literary and cultural interests, though he continued to lecture in the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. In 1918, he met Beryl de Zoete, a dance critic and writer; they lived together until her death in 1962. In 1966, Arthur Waley married Alison Robinson, whom he had first met in 1929. They lived in Highgate in London, and she became a familiar figure in later years, living beyond the age of 100.

Literary associations

Waley lived in Bloomsbury and had a number of friends among the Bloomsbury Group, many of whom he had met as an undergraduate. He was one of the earliest to recognize Ronald Firbank as an accomplished author, and together with Osbert Sitwell provided an introduction to Firbank's first collected edition.

Noted American 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 Review's editor, in a letter of July 2, 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 jackass, or a scholar.)"

Later life

Waley was elected an honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge in 1945, received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) honor in 1952, the Queen's Medal for Poetry in 1953, and the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1956. He died in London and is buried in the renowned Highgate Cemetery.

Translations

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 1921-33), The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (1928), Monkey (1942, an abridged version of Journey to the West), 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 for his translation of Monkey, and his translations of the classics, the Analects of Confucius and The Way and its Power (Tao Te Ching), are still regarded highly by his peers. Dutch poet J. Slauerhoff used poems from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems and More Translations from the Chinese to write his 1929 adaptation of Chinese poetry, Yoeng Poe Tsjoeng.

These translations 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, Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse and Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse (1918-1960) under Waley's name.

Experiences and expertise

Despite translating many Chinese and Japanese classical texts into English, including much poetry and philosophical works, Waley never travelled to the Far East. 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 and Syriac.

Anecdote

Edith Sitwell records the following anecdote of Waley. Having found in her brother Sacheverell's library a book of unknown alphabet, she placed it next to Waley's bed when he stayed as a house guest. "Next morning, Mr. Waley looked a little pale; his manner was languid, but as he placed the book on the breakfast table he announced in a faint voice: 'Turkish. 18th century.' The pages were few; and after an interval of respect we enquired: 'What is it about?' Mr. Waley, with sudden animation: 'The Cat and the Bat. The Cat sat on the Mat. The Cat ate the Rat.' 'Oh, it is a child's book.' 'One would imagine so. One would hope so!"

Selected works

A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, 1918
More Translations from the Chinese, 1919
Japanese Poetry: The Uta, 1919
The Nō Plays of Japan, 1921
The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki, 1921-1933
- The Tale of Genji
- The Sacred Tree
- The Wreath of Cloud
- Blue Trousers
- The Lady of the Boat
- The Bridge of Dreams
The Temple and Other Poems, 1923
Introduction to the Study of Chinese Painting, 1923
The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, 1928
The Way and its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought, 1934
The Book of Songs (Shih Ching), 1937
The Analects of Confucius, 1938
Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, 1939
Translations from the Chinese, a compilation, 1941
Monkey, 1942
Chinese Poems, 1946
The Life and Times of Po Chü-I, 1949
The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces, 1952
The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China, 1955
Yuan Mei: Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet, 1956
The Opium War through Chinese Eyes, 1958
The Poetry and Career of Li Po, 1959
Ballads and Stories from Tun-Huang, 1960
The Secret History of the Mongols, 1963

References

Alison Waley, A Half of Two Lives, (London, 1982)
John Walter de Gruchy, Orienting Arthur Waley: Japonism, Orientalism, and the Creation of Japanese Literature in English, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8248-2567-5.

External link

Waley's translation of The Way and its Power

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