Editing William Empson (section)

==The Face of the Buddha==
Empson's manuscript of a major work outside literary criticism, ''The Face of the Buddha'', begun in 1931 on the basis of often gruelling research across many parts of the Buddhist world, was long thought to be lost, but a copy miraculously turned up among the papers of a former editor at Poetry London, Richard March, who had left them to the British Library in 2003. According to the publisher, Empson 'found himself captivated by the Buddhist sculptures of ancient Japan, and spent the years that followed in search of similar examples all over Korea, China, Cambodia, Burma, India, and Sri Lanka, as well as in the great museums of the West. Compiling the results of these wide-ranging travels into what he considered to be one of his most important works, Empson was heartbroken when he mislaid the sole copy of the manuscript in the wake of the Second World War. ''The Face of the Buddha'' remained one of the great lost books until its surprise rediscovery sixty years later [...] The book provides an engaging record of Empson's reactions to the cultures and artworks he encountered during his travels, and presents experimental theories about Buddhist art that many authorities of today have found to be remarkably prescient. It also casts important new light on Empson's other works, highlighting in particular the affinities of his thinking with that of the religious and philosophical traditions of Asia.'<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=978-0199659678|title=The Face of the Buddha|last1=Empson|first1=William|year=2016}}</ref>