—Stephen Mitchell.
To my ear, Stephen Mitchell's is the most euphonious and successful of the translations. Faced with a tricky passage, he bravely gives himself pretty free rein, which many "serious" translators have objected to. His version is also notable for its pronouns (!). Unless the writer wants to emphasize gender, Chinese sentences--and pronouns--are gender-neutral. You can't tell whether the writer is referring to a "he" or a "she". While ALL other translators opt for the universal he/his/him, Mitchell alternates. One chapter will have all he's, while the next will have all she's. This is especially telling, because a few Chinese scholars have made the argument that the author of the Tao Te Ching was in fact a woman. Back to Introduction and List of Translations
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