Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
I have decided to begin my independent reading project with a careful reading of Sun Tzu's timeless work on military strategy The Art of War. Because the work is alluded to so much in modern works about war and is so highly revered today, I have decided to read it first to decide what about it creates its unmatched merit. Also, I know that the military strategies in this book are applied to military campaigns throughout history. I would like to see how they have survived over 2000 years of technological and cultural advancement and how different groups of people interpret them. For the purposes of this project, I would like to find parallels between my other 3 books and the strategies that Sun Tzu explains as a test to the merits of The Art of War. Hopefully, I will find many interesting applications of the ancient Chinese author's text.
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4 comments:
This book, which is a tranlation of the original text, should be a relatively short read for me. I could not get my hands on a copy of Tzu's actual words nor would I be able to read it if I did. After completing the first few chapters of this book, I find that the translator's voice is very dry and dull. He/she uses very simple language that is accesible to an average reader, but does not contain much rhetorical impact, something that I am almost certain Sun Tzu had. The ancient Chinese were very conscious of the art of rhetoric and words were chosen very carefully to effectively invoke the most appropriate response from a reader. With this translation, I only seem to get "what" is being said and seem to lose all of "how it's being said. Therefore this translator only appeals to my logos and not my pathos.
This story makes very prominent use of the cause and effect rhetorical mode to appeal to a reader's logos. In these first few chapters, Tzu focuses heavily on the effects of war on the state that is waging it. He presents many negative consequences that can befall a state while waging a long war, which imforms a reader NOT to do certain things. Tzu not only makes use of the simple cause and effect relationship, but also employs complex causual chains to illustrate his points.
thanks George Ill deff. keep that in mind while I read the next two chapters, 7&8. Hope to hear more from you because your insight is very interesting and very helpful :]
-- L. Katz
Why hello George, I am your blogger =).
First, I must say that your topic for independent reading is not one that I would've thought of or chosen to do, but I am interested in seeing what you're going to do with this!
So, what are some of the negative consequences that can befall a state during war? What causes these consequences?
Sorry, you got me interested!
Do you think its possible that in these first couple of chapters the author is only appealing to the reader's logos for a reason? Do you think/or does it change and appeal to your pathos?
Hope I helped?
Nicole
Accoridng to Sun Tzu,I if an army needs to be maintained from a distance, during war, a state will need to devote many resouces to waging that war. In turn, those resources will not be available for the sustanence of the state and the since this book was written so long ago, the peasants were the ones that felt most of the shortages that were caused by war.
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