China and the West

Pound, Ezra. Confucian analects [Lun yu]. [ID D29065].
http://www.ostasien.uzh.ch/sinologie/forschung/chinaundderwesten.html. Appendices.
1950
Note to Pound's translation of The Analects. In : Hudson review ; no 635 (1950).
"During the past half-century (since Legge's studies) a good deal of light has been shed on the subject by Fenollosa (Written character as a medium for poetry), Frobenius (Erlebte Erdteile) and Karlgren (Studies of sacrificial bone inscriptions)."
1997
Mary Paterson Cheadle : The Analects are composed of 482 chapters that are grosped into twenty books. It approaches its many subjects from various exegetical angles. Images of lieght and ideals of orderly government that are crucial in The great digest and The unwobbling pivot are not privileged over other terms and concepts. Other terms and concepts are newly introduced and some of these are poignantly appropriate to Pound around 1950 : the process and practice ; humaneness, total humanity, or manhood ; verbal fidelity and the importance of rites ; also, the role of the Confucian gentleman out of office as well as in office ; the importance of love and friendship, of learning, conscience, and beauty ; the proper attitude toward illness, death, the death penalty, and war. The defeat of Fascism and the crisis of events in Pound's own life jarred him, for the moment, out of the didactic form of study he had pursued for so long, reminding him that there was still as much to be learned as to be taught. The Analects is in part his expression of his relationship to Mussolini's Fascist movement and a preliminary exploration of what his new relationship to post-World War II America might be.
The Analects XIII.9 prescribes the priorities of a Confucian government ; XII.7 : armaments are the least important of the three necessities, food is more important, and most important of all is the people's 'faith' in their ruler ; XV.4 is presented as a result of the sovereign's introspectively based self-discipline. The last book Yao, Shun and Yu are celebrated for their realization of ideal rule.
Pound continues in The Analects to interpret individual words and passages with respect to the principle of verbal precision. Balanced against the despairing desire for no words are two responsibilities The Analects also gives to the Confucian in respect to language, both having to do with fitting the word to some nonverbal referent, an action or a thing, a subjective or objective experience. The concept of verbal definitions is crucial to Pound's interpretation of Confucianism around 1950 : as a whole, he claims in his 'Note to This New Version', The Analects is not 'a continuous narrative' or 'a collection of fancy ideas', but 'should be considered rather as definitions of words, and a number of them should be taken rather as lexicography, as examples of how Kung had used a given expression in defining a man or a condition'. Precise self-definition is the first responsibility of the Confucian in respect to language ; the second is the correlation of words and actions.
Some of the ceremonies referred to in The Analects are performed to the spirits of the land or ground, others to the spirits and powers of air, others to thee spirits of imperial ancestors.
Many issues and themes having special personal relevance as well as special didactic value for Pound around 1950 is the ritual of mourning outlined in several passages.
War is another subject that because of its relevance to Pound is treated with special expressiveness or, in passages where this may not be the case, should be read with special attention.
Regard to military aggression in The Analects presents another contradiction between Pound's Confucianism and his belief in the Fascist project. Another contradiction between Pound's Confucianism and the belief he had in Fascism is posed by the treatment of the death penalty. Subjects such as illness and death, war and the death penalty, have a great deal of poignancy for Pound.
Like the word 'conscience', the word 'beauty' is an aspect of his reinterpretation of Confucianism. 'beauty' does not always means 'true' or essential beauty, but sometimes false or merely superficial beauty.
The Analects concentrates more on Confucian earthly and celestial realms : the necessity of looking in one's own heart, mind, conscience, and of cultivating knowledge in order to make oneself sincere, or, in Pound's definition, in order to find the 'precise verbal definitions' of one's heart, mind, conscience.