As Lao Tzu said in Le Guin’s own translation of the Tao Te Ching, “To live till you die / is to live long enough.” Still, I’m bummed a little to learn all about these fascinating influences to Ursula Le Guin’s writing, as well as other writers, and not get to look forward to a new Le Guin book.īut if I can take anything away from this, maybe it’s to cope with the passing of the great author like the Taoist philosophers she admired.

…Or, as Oscar Wilde put it, “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” Coping like a Taoist

Parton has pointed out, some of Oscar Wilde’s famous witty quips would be eerily familiar to a Taoist:Ĭhuang Tzu wrote, “What starts out being sincere usually ends up being deceitful.” But it’s easy to see how Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Le Guin, and Oscar Wilde all shared some similar thoughts, and would probably get on fabulously. It’s hard to say how much Chuang Tzu directly influenced Wilde’s life, if at all. Like teenage Le Guin finding a common anarchist in Lao Tzu, Wilde saw an exciting rabble rouser in the ancient writer Chuang Tzu: “He would be disturbing at dinner-parties, and impossible at afternoon teas.” He even wrote a review of an English translation of the Chuang Tzu (the title and author’s name, as Wilde says, “must carefully be pronounced as it is not written”).Īnd, in short, Wilde was clearly absolutely charmed and intrigued by what he read. Perhaps most surprising to find is one of my favorite writers, Oscar Wilde. When Oscar met Chuang Tzu…Īs I delved into Le Guin’s background with Taoism, I discovered that she’s far from the only hero of mine to be enamored by the philosophy. Here’s a snippet where I think Le Guin beautifully highlights Lao Tzu’s thoughtfulness (and sense of humor):

And, personally, it’s one of the most approachable, enjoyable, and satisfying. She instead utilized existing translations, and collaborated with experts to create a new rendition of the legendary text. Now, there was a tiny problem, namely: she didn’t know Chinese …but she certainly didn’t let that get in her way.

And since her twenties, Le Guin had been slowly but surely translating the Tao Te Ching herself for modern readers, while keeping Lao Tzu’s poetry. The Tao Te Ching is one of the most translated works in the world, practically daring people to roll up their sleeves and-c’mon!-try their luck at the sucker.

Ursula k le guin tao te ching