Rereading the Stone

It’s a poetry-pilled installment of Rereading the Stone! We compare Zhang Ruoxu’s 張若虛 (660 – ca. 720) “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night《春江花月夜》,” featuring a new draft translation, with Lin Daiyu’s 《秋窗風雨夕》, “Autumn Window: A Night of Wind and Rain” in David Hawke’s translation of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (Story of the Stone.) Support the show

Xifeng (and her purse) is invited into the Crabflower Club. Meanwhile we review the family relations of lesser characters like Lai Da’s wife and discuss her “don’t spare the rod” 不打不成才 philosophy. Support the show

Xifeng is shaking with anger. Is there meaning in the madness? What are the real and imagined consequences of Jia Lian’s transgressions? We try to conceive a contemporary framework for interpreting a tumultuous series of events in Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢. Support the show

It’s Xifeng birthday, so everyone is having a good time, even if labor relations in the Jia household leave room for improvement. Support the show

It’s time for part 2 (earth 土) of Chapter 43 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone, Hongloumeng 紅樓夢), where Baoyu performs a non-performative ritual observance of the death of Golden. We discuss Baoyuean theories of language as use, while also discussing the poetry of Cao Zhi 曹植 (192 – 232), including one “cutting edge” translation. Support the show

This chapter (of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢) admits of dualities? So here in part 1 we cover the first half (gold 金), which involves some extensive bickering over money (including an eyebrow-raising subscription scheme to collect funds for Xifeng’s birthday…) Next episode will cover the second half of the chapter (earth 土).  Support the show

Daiyu and Baochai exchange literary intimacies, and meta-literary musings! Is reading bad, actually? Or, is it Baochai who is kind of a fascist? Would Baochai reframe from reading her own book? Or is it Daiyu who should be “called out” for her classist joke? “Grannie Liu, more like Grannie Locust?, amirite?” 他是那一門子的姥姥？直叫他是個『母蝗蟲』就是了！ -Daiyu Support the show

Suppose your child were born on the seventh day of the seventh month, what would you do? If you saw an immortal soul falling into the well of mortal existence, would you intervene and save them? Suppose you were facing a lifetime of strangely illiquid “tear debt,” would you seek solace in historical novels and plays that serve no clear moral or dogmatic purpose? These and other questions are all a...

One of our favorite sections of the text — Grannie Liu takes Baoyu’s bed for a spin, dreaming her own dream of red chambers! A full sensory experience, we compare it to Bayou’s dream from Qin Keqing’s bed. Support the show

Granny Liu’s choice of cups (wood is good!) figures prominently in this installment. A wide-ranging discussion of social class and constructed value, as the real and unreal reveal themselves to be deeply interwoven. Support the show

This part of chapter 40 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone, Hongloumeng) is a lot of poetic fun, but is it purely fun and games? What kind of symbolism and foreshadowing lie within, and will illicit references catch the censor’s gaze? How will Baochai escape the dialectical logic of “takes one to know one”? Is gaming a kind of waking dream? What kind of displacements might be occurrin...

More excellent Granny Liu content, as we travel deeper into the garden, soon by means of pleasure craft, with Xifeng at the helm. When withered lotus petals are observed on the surface of the water, Daiyu famously discusses the poetry of Tang poet Li Shangyin. Support the show

It's Chapter 40 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone, Hongloumeng), and we're accompanying Grannie Liu on her tour of Prospect Garden. In what ways is the garden reflective of, and in dialogue with, Grannie’s Liu’s dreams and desires? What does Grannie Liu accurately perceive on her tour, and where does she project? And what about the “country bumpkin” role that Grannie Liu is...

In this episode, we puzzle over Grannie Liu’s arithmetic while questioning how age and social class more broadly inform her interactions with Grandmother Jia. A continuation of our discussion of chapter 39 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone), a classic work of historical Chinese literature. Support the show! https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/supporters/new Support the show

We treat the first part of Chapter 39 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone, Hongloumeng), as Li Wan and friends wax philosophical on the importance of having good servants to dissipate loneliness... our discussion turns toward issues of social value, and the paradoxes of hierarchy and intimacy. Support the show

The end (or is it beginning?) of our Chapter 38 review! (This was originally intended to be the first episode we’d release, but it was the last to be recorded, and we forgot to rearrange them.) The final part of our foray into this dense and rich chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone). Support the show

The Chapter 38 poetry review continues! No poetic stone left unturned! Support the show

The Chapter 38 poetry review of Hong lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber, Story of the Stone) continues! Note: as indicated in the episode, some “creative” post-production editing was performed in order to improve upon and to correct elements of our original commentary. Also note: The Greek painter whose name escapes Kevin in the episode is Parrhasius! Final note: The Leonard Cohen song briefly in...

After a brief but productive hiatus, in which considerable Hong lou meng’ing was happening “behind the scenes,” Rereading returns, with a poetry-pilled perusal of Chapter 38! This is the first part of our exploration of this chapter.  Support the show

New poetry club “The Crab-flower Club” 海棠社 just dropped, and Daiyu is sweeping up sunsets. Meanwhile Baoyu can’t seem to keep on-prompt… Support the show

“Why should the founding of poetry clubs be the sole prerogative of the whiskered male, and female versificators allowed a voice in the tunable concert of the muses only when some enlightened patriarch sees fit to invite them? Will you come, then, and rhyme with us?” New poetry club “The Crab-flower Club” 海棠社 just dropped! The latest installation of our exploration of Dream of the Red Chamber (...

Baoyu expounds upon one of his favorite topics, his notion of the ideal death, linking it to idle visions shared by his soulmate. He then goes off in search of a song, only to find the baleful laments of a caged bird in a hall of mirrors.  Support the show

Time to choose: do you believe in the marriage of gold and jade, or do you believe in the marriage of stone and flower? Check out part 1 of our discussion of chapter 36 of Dream of the Red Chamber, or The Story of the Stone. Support the show

Baoyu is poorly regarded by visitors, and Baochai sends subtle signals to Aroma. We discuss families and fortunes.  Note: I’ve preserved a weird audio effect at the end of the episode for a behind-the-scenes feel, and because I thought it was funny. Support the show

Daiyu is expertly trolled by a bird, and Baoyu tries to charm Silver. Baoyu tries to get Grandmother Jia to praise Daiyu, but she praises Baochai instead. Meanwhile we attempt to ascertain the social-hierarchical significance of who serves whom, and who sits when.  Support the show