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"JADE FISH AND THE MASTER"
La premiere taoïste
IL ÉTAIT UNE FOIS, IL Y A 2 300 ANS, À L'OUEST DE LA CHINE ACTUELLE, une enfant trouvée nommée Poisson de Jade. A 13 ans, elle est domestique chez un magistrat dont l'épouse, cruelle, l'accuse de fautes qu'elle n'a pas commises. Mais le destin de cette Cendrillon orientale bascule le jour où, « relevant Ie menton », elle décide de partir avec un vieillard étrange, un « colosse moustachu aux yeux rieurs » qui travaille à son ultime ouvrage, leTao Té Ching (LeLivre de la voie et de la vertu). Tous ceux qui « se cherchent » trouveront que cette fille a beaucoup de chance. Avoir Lao Tzu lui-même comme professeur de sagesse n'est pas donné à tous. Sauf aux lecteurs qui la suivront dans ce voyage spirituel, émaillé de citations, formidablement poétique et vivant. Les questions de cette adolescente sont les nôtres. Et Paddy Salmon a un don pour faire surgir devant nous le quotidien, presque palpable, de la dynas- tie Zhou. Bref, le taoïsme sans effort? Sa bienveillance et sa douceur? Voici comment s'y initier avec joie et s'y mouvoir comme un poisson (de jade) dans l'eau. • FLORENCE NOIVILLE
+• Poisson de Jade (Jade Fish and the Master), de Paddy Salmon, illustré par Chen Jiang Hong, traduit de l'anglais par Dominique Kugler,
L'Ecole des loisirs, 224 p.
Review in French of "Poisson de Jade" ("Jade Fish and the Master" Book One) from "Le Monde des Livres".
Nov 2018
"In the west of present day China, a young girl is found and named Jade Fish. Aged 13, she is a servant working for a magistrate whose wife cruelly accuses her of mistakes she hasn't committed. But the destiny of this oriental Cinderella changes one day when, "stubbornly raising her chin", she decides to leave with a strange old man, a giant with moustaches and laughing eyes, who is working on his final work, "The Tao Té Ching" (The Book of the Way and its Virtue). All who are "searching for themselves" will discover that this girl is in luck. Having Lao Tzu in person as your teacher of wisdom is not something given to everyone. Only to those readers who will follow her in this journey of spiritual discovery, blazoned with quotations and wonderfully poetic and vivid. The questions of this adolescent are our questions. And Paddy Salmon has a gift for bringing to life the everyday life of the Zhou Dynasty. In short, is this taoism the easy way with its humanity and its gentleness? Here you can begin your initiation and learn to immerse yourself, like a (jade) fish moving in its waters.
Florence Noiville
Just Dazzling!
As an old guy with more salt than pepper in his beard, I was aware of decades falling away as I read this three volume story. Written for all ages, I’d say, each of them had a strong story structure, and reading them (quickly, as I did, because the narrative is so well-oiled) was like reading in colour, because events are drenched in the world of the time
portrayed, all the smells and sounds and sights and tastes and flamboyant colours of it, as imagined – in particular a lot of the writing is painterly and unobtrusively well-composed.
But it’s the sympathy for the characters that keeps you turning the pages, the human ins and outs of it, and the metaphors of current political times too. The fluency and clarity of the story brought me back to the pleasures of real reading (as a younger person) – of being IN a different world and yet being raised drone-like slightly ABOVE it. And the well-managed suspense means that there is a compulsion to read the volumes straight after each other without tiring.
The big added ingredient in these books is the gently Taoist scaffolding that it’s built on, and the underlying peace message – it’s a great experience in itself to be subjected to that in 2023, because everything in these books underlies our own world.
Highly, highly recommended! By preference I read the paper version. Each volume is a beautifully produced book with perfect print and spacing.
Ag Jones (Dilettante) June 2023