New article from Vernon Press author

Vernon Press author Paul Fendos has published a new article which aims to explore some of the issues discussed in his book The Book of Changes: A Modern Adaptation and Interpretation (Vernon Press, 2018).

This article is an attempt to clarify the author’s approach to interpretation and translation as applied in his recently published book, The Book of Changes: A Modern Adaptation and Interpretation. It does so in two main steps. First, reference is made to metaphor theory, a perhaps under-appreciated tool for framing Book of Changes text materials—especially the line texts. Two new terms are introduced, ‘adaptative interpretation’ and ‘reverse adaptative interpretation,’ concepts which help demonstrate how the same text materials in the Book of Changes can at times be seen functioning both as tenor and vehicle. Emphasis is placed on showing how the line text materials can be read as vehicle, with an analysis provided of the author’s translation and interpretation of the line texts for Hexagram #15, Qian 謙 (Humility). This analysis aims to demonstrate one way to uncover underlying meanings or patterns of change in these materials. Second, a comparison of the author’s translations with those of the same line text materials by five other translators is carried out. The goal of such a comparison is to show how this author’s approach to translation and interpretation of Book of Changes text materials measures up to others in the field, with very general conclusions suggesting that the author’s position, like those others in the field, might best be understood within the context of 1) whether one sees the Zhouyi more as a divinatory text or as part of a philosophical canon, and 2) whether one approaches it from the perspective of a Traditionalist or a Modernist. 

The article will appear in "Metaphorical Translation: The Book of Changes", Translation Quarterly 92 (2019): 70-122. 

Fendos’s book has been praised by Dr. Yang Lee as “a work that demonstrates integrity in scholarship and readability for the non-specialist”.

For more information about the book, click here.