Book of Beginnings

Jullien Francois, Gladding Jody

How can a person from a Western culture enter into a way of thinking as different as that of the Chinese? Can a person truly escape from his or her own cultural perspectives and assumptions? French philosopher Francois Jullien has throughout his career explored the distances between European and Chinese thought. In this fascinating summation of his work, he takes an original approach to the conundrum of cross-cultural understanding. Jullien considers just three sentences in their original languages. Each is the first sentence of a seminal text: the Bible in Hebrew, Hesiod's Theogony in Greek, and the I Ching in Chinese. By dismantling these sentences, the author reveals the workings of each language and the ways of thought in which they are inscribed. He traces the hidden choices made by European reason and assumptions, discovering among other things what is not thought about. Through the lens of the Chinese language, Jullien offers, as always, a new and surprising view of our own Western culture.

About the Author

Francois Jullien is an internationally recognized philosopher and sinologist who explores the workings of European and Chinese thought. He has published more than thirty volumes of philosophy and holds several academic posts in France. He lives in Paris.

Jody Gladding is a poet and teacher in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has translated more than twenty books from French to wide acclaim.

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