Ep 1: Rereading Hong lou meng 紅樓夢 Chapter 1, part 1
08/08/20 • 98 min
2 Listeners
In this very first pilot episode, Kevin Wilson and William Jones give a general introduction to Qing dynastic history and the famous Chinese author Cao Xueqin (1715 or 1724 – 1763 or 1764) before delving into the first part of Chapter 1 of this world-famous novel. Topics discussed include Chinese mythology, the Chinese language and naming systems, Chinese characters and their semantics, parallels between Hong lou meng and Xi you ji (a.k.a., Journey to the West), Buddhist thinking and its influence on this novel, and much more.
In this very first pilot episode, Kevin Wilson and William Jones give a general introduction to Qing dynastic history and the famous Chinese author Cao Xueqin (1715 or 1724 – 1763 or 1764) before delving into the first part of Chapter 1 of this world-famous novel. Topics discussed include Chinese mythology, the Chinese language and naming systems, Chinese characters and their semantics, parallels between Hong lou meng and Xi you ji (a.k.a., Journey to the West), Buddhist thinking and its influence on this novel, and much more.
Next Episode
Ep 2: Rereading Hong lou meng 紅樓夢 Chapter 1 part 2
In this episode, we finish the second part of chapter 1 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢), discussing the representation of dreams and fantasy in literature, liminal spaces such as archways, liminal moments such as the "ides of January" (aka., the Lantern Festival), social dynamics and the etiquette of friendship, the layers of meanings embedded in the names of the characters in this novel, ill fortune and the vagaries of fate, the role of religious institutions in Qing China and the author's possible attitudes toward these institutions, and much more.
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