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Comptes Rendus Book Reviews COMPTES RENDUS BOOK REVIEWS Charles Le Blanc et Rémi Mathieu (traduction, présentation et annota- tion), Philosophes confucianistes, Paris : Gallimard, 2009. lxvi-1470 pa- ges Le compte rendu d’un ouvrage aussi imposant n’est pas tâche facile. Dans ce volume, Charles Le Blanc et Rémi Mathieu proposent une nouvelle traduction de six textes qui, dans la longue et complexe histoire du confu- cianisme, ont joué à diverses époques un rôle fondamental : les Entretiens (Lunyu 論語), le Mengzi 孟子, la Grande Étude (Daxue 大學), la Pratique équilibrée (Zhongyong 中庸), le Classique de la Piété filiale (Xiaojing 孝 經) et le Xunzi 荀子. Chaque texte est accompagné d’un appareil critique très complet, qui consiste en une introduction comprenant une bibliogra- phie sélective, des notices présentant séparément chaque chapitre (pour les Entretiens, le Mengzi et le Xunzi), et un appareil de notes expliquant certains points difficiles du texte ou proposant de multiples références, aussi bien internes qu’externes. Le tout est précédé d’une préface générale rédigée par les deux traducteurs, et d’une chronologie. En fin de volume, deux cartes, une bibliographie générale et un index des noms, des notions et des citations dans les Classiques complètent ce vaste ensemble. Ce projet éditorial très soigné fait suite à la traduction du Huainanzi 淮南子, parue en 2003 dans la même collection et sous l’égide des mêmes auteurs (dont Jean-François Billeter a signé un compte rendu paru dans Études chinoises, 2004-XXIII, p. 455-464). Voilà donc un nouveau projet titanesque, qui, dans ses meilleurs passages parvient à révéler la diversité de l’héritage scripturaire du confucianisme ancien. De ce point de vue, l’intégration dans ce corpus du Xunzi, souvent confiné aux marges de la Études chinoises, vol. XXIX (2010) Comptes rendus tradition, est particulièrement heureuse. On ne peut qu’admirer l’énormité du travail accompli ainsi que la volonté de procurer au lecteur de nombreux outils de compréhension. Cependant, la lecture de cet ouvrage suscite de nombreuses interrogations, à la fois quant à la stratégie de traduction, mais aussi quant à la construction et au contenu de l’édifice critique qui entoure les textes dont il est censé faciliter l’accès. Je proposerai donc ici des ré- flexions qui paraîtront peut-être très critiques, mais qui sont avant tout le fruit des espérances suscitées par un tel événement éditorial. Avant de discuter de la traduction, il convient de présenter les dif- férents niveaux de l’édifice critique proposé, en allant du général (la pré- face) au particulier (les notices rattachées à chaque chapitre). La préface, longue d’une quarantaine de pages, peut être divisée en trois parties : les idées maîtresses du confucianisme, ses « racines livresques » et enfin son histoire des origines à nos jours (la chronologie en revanche s’arrête à la fin des Han antérieurs en 8 apr. J.-C.). Cette préface a bien sûr vocation à présenter ces grandes lignes de manière simplifiée, et si par endroit elle y réussit, la pédagogie voulue ne parvient pas à donner de la clarté à l’ensem- ble. En effet, pour simplifier l’exposé, les auteurs tendent d’une part à per- pétuer des connaissances conventionnelles, même si elles sont dépassées, et d’autre part à formuler des énoncés extrêmement généraux voire péremp- toires. Parmi les affirmations péremptoires, j’ai noté l’idée d’un confucia- nisme antérieur à l’Empire, qui serait encore moral, « avant de pouvoir se couler, renonçant à l’exercice “vertueux” d’un pouvoir, dans le moule des institutions impériales pour plus de deux millénaires » (p. XVIII) ; ou encore l’ « humanisme pragmatique » qui est présenté comme le fil rouge de la pensée confucéenne (p. X-XII), alors qu’un peu plus loin, la vertu d’humanité devient « l’amour inconditionnel des hommes », ce qui manque singulière- ment de pragmatisme. Comme le dit le Zhongyong, que les auteurs citent eux-mêmes au demeurant, « l’humanité, c’est l’homme. Aimer ses proches en est le principal aspect ». Autant dire que la notion confucéenne d’huma- nité n’est rien d’autre que l’homme lui-même, pris dans sa réalité, en ce qu’il tisse des liens d’amour d’abord avec ses proches, ce qui me semble bien différent de l’idée d’un « amour inconditionnel », formule générale, simple en apparence mais guère éclairante. En général, les auteurs persistent à employer des notions dont on sait qu’elles sont impropres pour la période historique concernée. Pour ne citer que l’exemple le plus frappant, le terme 342343 343 Études chinoises, vol. XXIX (2010) Comptes rendus de livre, fréquemment utilisé par les auteurs, me semble inadapté dans le cas du confucianisme ancien, où les textes sont, au moins jusqu’à la fin des Han occidentaux en 8 apr. J.C. des monuments encore en construction, toujours susceptibles de se voir ajouter un escalier, une aile, ou au contraire de se voir supprimer un bâtiment si les fondations sont jugées incertaines. Si les auteurs connaissent donc très bien toute la littérature secondaire sur les tex- tes qu’ils traduisent, ou plus généralement sur l’histoire du confucianisme, ils n’en tirent finalement pas toutes les conséquences. Par crainte peut-être de dérouter le lecteur, ils proposent une présentation souvent très convenue, dans certains cas fausse, du confucianisme : ils reprennent ainsi (p. XXIX- XXX) l’idée d’une victoire du confucianisme sous le règne de l’empereur Wu 武 des Han, orchestrée par Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179-104), pourtant abondamment remise en question (en particulier par Nicolas Zufferey, To the Origins of Confucianism. The Ru in pre-Qin times and during the early Han dynasty, Bern: Peter Lang, 2003). La volonté d’épargner au lecteur un subtil débat sinologique ne devrait pas mener à des affirmations inexactes selon lesquelles Dong Zhongshu fut « grand ministre à la Cour », « auteur du Chunqiu fanlu » et « fondateur de la première université ». Une telle présentation est réfutée presque point par point par Michael Loewe (« Impe- rial Sovereignty: Tung Chung-shu’s contribution and his predecessors », in Michael Loewe, Divination, mythology and monarchy in Han China, Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 122) : « Tung Chung-shu (...) did not attain a high position as a statesman, nor did he enjoy a particularly successful career as an official. (...) The three memorials form the basic evi- dence for Tung Chung-shu’s political philosophy, and they may be accepted as possessing a higher degree of authenticity than the more voluminous ma- terial that is collected in the Ch’un-ch’iu fan-lu ». Tout cela change bien entendu fondamentalement notre vision du confucianisme han. À la différence de la préface générale, les introductions rattachées à chaque texte atteignent souvent leur but et parviennent à faire compren- dre au lecteur l’histoire parfois complexe des textes. J’ai en revanche des réserves à formuler à propos des notices rattachées à chaque chapitre. Les auteurs ont eu là une idée très intéressante, mais l’ont mise en œuvre de manière trop systématique : si la description d’une structure entre les cha- pitres et à l’intérieur de chaque chapitre peut être fructueuse pour un texte comme le Xunzi, elle est la plupart du temps vouée à l’échec pour les 342343 343 Études chinoises, vol. XXIX (2010) Comptes rendus Entretiens ou pour le Mengzi, surtout quand la recherche d’une structure consiste à distinguer théorie et pratique ou encore à forcer le texte de cha- que chapitre à entrer dans une unité thématique. La diversité du corpus présenté ici est aussi une diversité littéraire qu’il est dommage de nier en appliquant uniformément la même méthode de présentation pour tous les textes. Ce n’est qu’avec le Xunzi que commence à émerger l’idée d’un texte construit et structuré par chapitres à valeur thématique, et cette ten- dance se confirmera sous les Han, notamment lorsque le grand historien Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145 av. J.-C.-86 av. J.-C.) proposera un sommaire développé de son Shiji 史記. Or, la recherche d’une structure occupe une bonne part des notices, et devient parfois très laborieuse, ainsi p. 268 (à propos du premier chapitre du Mengzi) : « Un grand nombre de paragra- phes de ce premier chapitre visent à ventiler les ramifications concrètes du partage et de la protection du peuple » ; ou encore lorsque le traducteur (ici, Charles Le Blanc) présente des arguments peu convaincants : « La réunion de Teng et de Song dans un même chapitre n’a rien d’étonnant : les deux principautés, tout comme Lu, partageaient une frontière commu- ne avec Qi au nord et Chu au sud et étaient également sous leur dominance [sic] » (p. 350). Force lui est cependant de reconnaître régulièrement au fil des diverses notices que la plupart des thèmes parcourent toute l’œuvre et ne sont pas assignables à un chapitre particulier. Ainsi, « la section B du présent chapitre (III) est la source la plus dense de Meng zi sur le sujet [du perfectionnement de soi et du service de l’État]. On trouve des passages apparentés dans tous les chapitres de Meng zi sur le sujet, à l’exception du chapitre VII » (p. 352). Dès lors ces notices thématiques attachées à chaque chapitre se justifient-elles encore ? Dans le cas précis du Mengzi, le traducteur va encore plus loin en tentant de donner sens à la subdivision en deux sous-chapitres (A et B) de chaque chapitre, en commentant sur le caractère « plus théorique » de la section A et « plus pratique » de la sec- tion B. Pourtant, « comme il le fait dans l’ensemble de l’œuvre, l’éditeur Zhao Qi (108-201) a réparti les textes pour que les sections A et B comp- tent chacune environ 2 500 caractères » (p.
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