Gentle Readers:

Thank you to all who listened in and participated in the lively #ReadingTheStone discussion on 4/16, now our third Saturday chat in a row!

Among other topics, we touched upon issues of narrative structure (voyages and battles, and perhaps habitation too); the complexity of HLM characters that alternate between wisdom and venality (Jia Yucun); doubles and echoes of characters throughout the fiction (doting fathers, orphaned daughters); wealthy men dabbling in Taoism as an escape from societal expectations; Daiyu as an enduringly compelling character; and the recurrent theme of trans-ness – most notably Baoyu and transgender identity, but the many instances of discordance between bodies and selves, human and non-human forms, given names and chosen names, et al in the novel, which we hope to return to at a future date.

Alas, due to my error, it was not recorded. Could I blame my currently enfeebled COVID state of brain fog? (I am on the mend, so this is just a blatant Daiyu-esque protestation of frailty) But I rallied Profs. Wai-yee Li and Ann Waltner for a follow-up discussion yesterday, so that we have something on record. Hope you enjoy.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1974761/episodes/10450485

Our second chat was less of a reprise than a continuation of discussion of Daiyu, Baoyu, and Baochai as characters, so please do add to the Twitter #ReadingTheStone thread or do comment below if you have further thoughts to share! Or if you have any questions or comments on Chapters 1-4 that have come up that you’d like to explore with the book group.

For this coming week, we’d like to delve into Chapters 5 and 6, as they are so rich (and a bit mysterious); but for the week after we will be leaping forward into Chapter 12. So if you are reading steadily please feel free to keep on going beyond Chapters 5 and 6 this week, as we’ll be picking up speed in weeks ahead.

As ever,

Eileen

[Gai Qi 改琦 (1774–1829) illustration]