Talk:Lionel Giles

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I love this sentence:

Unintentionally correct: "Victorian sinologists contributed greatly to problems of textual transmission."--108.16.230.212 (talk) 08:06, 10 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

quote misattributed

The quote that says, "The extent of the actual mischief done..." seems to be misattributed, as explained on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie_Yukou (i.e. his father said it. In the introduction to Taoist Teachings from the Book of Lieh-Tzŭ, Lionel explicitly disagrees with claims regarding the fictitiousness of "Lieh Tzu" (p.13; https://archive.org/details/taoistteachingsf00liezrich/page/12/mode/2up), though he evidently agrees about "the problem identifying the authors of ancient works"). [The paragraph introducing the quotation is problematic in that it mentions both father and son before referencing "Giles' attitude" but the footnote "Lionel Giles, tr. Taoist Teachings from the Book of Lieh-Tzŭ. London: Wisdom of the East. 1912" is definitely incorrect; a correct citation would be something like "Zhuangzi. Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer. Translated by Herbert A. Giles. London: B. Quaritch, 1889"]

Initially, I wanted to find a quote from the "Taoist Teachings" introduction which maintained the generally correct point about the 'problem identifying authors' (those comments being the extent of my extremely limited knowledge of Lionel's views on this topic), but as I reviewed possibilities, regarding both Laozi and Liezi, he ardently maintains fundamental cores which can be attributed to (semi-)historical figures (how ironic that his own views have not even survived this century correctly). Thus, I've concluded this entire passage is not entirely appropriately relevant to his intricate views on this topic.

That also raises questions about the relevance, coherence and justifications of the line about "Victorian sinologists" and "problems of textual transmission", though I had initially agreed with the commentator above that it was a juicy nugget. Still, I think it also is inappropriate on this page.

I will be grateful if someone with more knowledge and rhetorical proficiency than me can restore an intelligent relevant discussion of this topic here, but for the moment, I believe the incorrect information ought to be removed, so now I'm going to delete it. Potamites (talk) 15:38, 8 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]