Laozi: The Book of the Way and Its Power / Jan Merta

This is the second volume in the small Czech Laozi Edition. Following the most recent translation by David Sehnal, this is a new version of the translation by Sehnal’s teacher – the sinologist Oldřich Král – who was in charge of this edition and, in his preface, writes: “There continue to be more reasons to know about others, and consequently more reasons to try to understand those others. A literary and philosophical translation is a special form of discovering knowledge; it is a peripheral way of reading that leaves behind traces of our various interpretations, which we can always follow again to read and hear other voices and other writings at the borders where different cultures meet.” 

Merta's artistic treatment builds on the bibliophile edition from 2010, and Jan Merta adds in relation to it: “The small Czech Laozi Edition may be too big to fit into a suit pocket, but it fits well into a woman’s handbag as well as a student's budget. And that is actually what we wanted.”