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Title: The Art of Living: The Classic Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus, Sharon Lebell ISBN: 0-06-251322-2 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.63 (35 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Getting it right. [Epictetus DID address casual sex!]
Comment: This book is inspiring, but perhaps confusing from a historical standpoint, given that Lebell doesn't tell us when she's embellishing on the original. Some reviewers have been speculating on what Epictetus did and did not write about. Example: some have complained that he couldn't possibly have addressed "casual sex". A reviewer named "Strict Evaluation" poo-poos Lebell's use of Epictetus's name and skeptically asks "what's the Greek for 'casual sex'?" -- implying that Lebell's book has little relation to Epictetus. I can assure you that that reviewer is uninformed and overdramatic. Case in point:
Lebell writes:
"Abstain from casual sex and particularly avoid sexual intercourse before you get married." ... "If, however, you know someone who has had casual sex, don't self-righteously try to win them over to your own views."
Arrian (Epictetus's sole recorder) writes in the Enchiridion:
"As to pleasure with women, abstain as far as you can before marriage: but if you do indulge in it, do it in the way which is conformable to custom. Do not, however be disagreeable to those who indulge in these pleasures, or reprove them; and do not often boast that you do not indulge in them yourself."
I'd say that Lebell has done a good job of capturing the spirit of what Arrian reported of Epictetus teachings (in this case). She often adds her own extrapolations and interpretations based on (1) her own understanding of the philosophy, and (2) a desire to make the reading more accessible and compelling to her audience. I agree that it would be awfully nice to have references to the original texts for comparison -- or perhaps an original+commentary format -- but before you indict her for complete fabrication, please, at least take a look at the original!
Rating: 5
Summary: My gift to graduates
Comment: This book makes a wonderful gift for a new graduate. How many high schools teach philosophy these days? The sensible advice and direction that this modern interpretation provides can be an excellent introduction to philosophy and perhaps widen the scope of thought for young people beyond what 'popular entertainment' offers. I've given this book for several years now and although a graduate may not initially appreciate the ideas presented, eventually it gets picked up and enjoyed.
Rating: 1
Summary: Midadvertised, Diluted, Mistranslated -- But Still Edifying!
Comment: Sharon Lebell's "translation" (or should I say more accurately, "rewriting") is worth reading. The advice still makes sense, even though you are reading a greatly DILUTED, MISTRANSLATED, CREATIVELY EDITED, AND WHOLLY "NON-CLASSICAL" alleged translation. A hint that something's amiss is the juxtaposition of Sharon Lebell's name next to Epictetus's. Since when does a translator of a classical author place her name so prominently next to the real author? Answer. When the translations are so different from the original that the juxtaposition of names "Epictetus, Sharon Lebell" accurately portrays the authorship of THIS pseudo-translation of a great classic text. Per the advice of a few previous reviewers, I DID DO SOMETHING SOME PEOPLE MAY CHOOSE TO BYPASS: I consulted a hardcover edition of Epictetus's DISCOURSES and ENCHIRIDION based on the translation of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. It was a worthwhile experience of textual comparison. Take Chapter Thirteen of Epictetus's Discourses: "To Those Who Talk Too Much About Their Own Affairs." Higginson's translation, though somewhat stilted, presents three full pages (328-330) of advice on avoiding gossip, both as a speaker and listener. Lebell's "translation" pares down three dense pages of tiny single space writing into less than one full page of alleged translation. What authority has granted Lebell permission to chop out three-fourths of what Epictetus says on the topic, and so loosely translate whatever remains? Since when is such a divorce from a responsible rendering a "translation?" And can someone clarify this question? Did Epictetus ever write such a puny text called "The Art of Living"? The aforementioned passage contained in Higginson's translation is contained in the Discourses (I saw no mention of "The Art of Living" anywhere. Was that perhaps in a Dalai Lama book? Did the author creatively merge Tibetan Buddhism with Stoic philosophy? That would explain how Lebell could have taken the 330 densely compacted pages of the Discourses, and turned them into a couple of dozen big-lettered paragraphs, most of them failing to amount to a quarter of a page.). No, Lebell's "The Art of Living" is not a translation of Epictetus. But is it useful? Yes. Is it worth reading? Yes, especially if a genuine translation is NOT available. And that's the problem. Few legitimate translations are available. But they are available. This points to another misrepresentation by Lebell and/or her publishers/editors. By calling excerpts from Epictetus "Discourses" (and possible Enchiridion) "The Art of Living" Lebell makes a reader feel that she is providing the reader with a hitherfore untranslated work. Well, gottcha! No such untranslated work. The readers is reading a few creatively translated (mistranslated) snippets from a much larger body of work. So, I can't dare to call Lebell's highly abridged and creatively edition "a translation." It's not. What can I compare it to? Well, there's a wonderful little book called "I Ching Wisdom" written by Wu Wei. It's great. It's worth reading. But when you actually read the new definitive Alfred Huang translation of the I-Ching, you know you are reading a useful, yet greatly altered "Cliff Notes/Fortune Cookie" version of the original. Does this disparage Lebell's contribution? Well, no. Read on their own merits -- not as a translation of Epictetus, but solely as Lebell's "brainstorming" after reading a few of Epictetus's Discourses, etc. -- the book is very good. But the real great tragedy and endictment here points to the irresponsible publishers/editors who saw fit to allow Lebell to abridge and mistranslate excerpts from Epictetus's works, and then try to pass it on to unsuspecting readers as: "The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectivenss." If the source of Lebell's pseudo-translation is Epictetus, then where is her original source? And why didn't the irresponsible publishers/editors ensure that Lebell provided readers with an accurate and complete translation of the Discourses and Enchiridion? As a piece of scholarship, Lebell's pseudo-translation is inexusably irresponsible and shallow. As a valuable contribution to "self help" literature, it's a good quick read for even a 45-minute commuter flight. You can probably read and reread the book in that time. Why even buy it? You can read it while standing at the airport magazine store in less time than it takes to get through airport security. So...if you're interested in Epictetus, go elsewhere. If you want an overpriced misrepresentation of Epictetus with a nice hardcover, then you'll get exactly just that. I only wish Lebell had been ethical enough as an author to have excised Epictetus's name out of the book, in addition to the other 300 or so pages she left out and/or changed beyond recognition. What's the sense of starting to translate a work when you can't get through one-thirtieth of the work? "Buyer Beware!"
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Title: A Manual for Living by Epictetus ISBN: 0062511114 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 23 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Meditations by MARCUS AURELIUS, GREGORY HAYS ISBN: 0812968255 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Enchiridion by Epictetus, George Long ISBN: 0879757035 Publisher: Promethean Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1955 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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Title: Handbook of Epictetus by Nicholas P. White ISBN: 0915145693 Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Pub. Date: June, 1983 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Stoic Philosophy of Seneca Essays and Letters by Seneca, Moses Hadas ISBN: 0393004597 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 1968 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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