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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 12h

etymological speculation, in particular, seems to be an area where it's really hard to distinguish a) hard linguistic truths from b) reasonable speculation on issues where most linguistics would agree and from c) wilder speculation on issues where linguists might have meaningful on-going debates

Reposted by Kevin

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not saying that Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) is necessarily the best queer novel of the nineteenth century, but I am saying it's definitely in the running

www.patreon.com/posts/reflec...

Reflections on Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) | kmichaelwilson

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 1d

preliminary napkin arithmetic suggests that The Complete Tang Poetry Collection 全唐詩 commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor in 1705 is too long to be read in full during one mortal lifetime

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 1d

rough approximation, each of the "four great masterpieces" (viz. classic Chinese novels) is about a million Chinese characters long

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not saying that Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) is necessarily the best queer novel of the nineteenth century, but I am saying it's definitely in the running

www.patreon.com/posts/reflec...

Reflections on Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) | kmichaelwilson

Get more from kmichaelwilson on Patreon

www.patreon.com

2 5

Reposted by Kevin

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 2d

though Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) is not, as is sometimes claimed, an "ancient gay encyclopedia," it is one of the greatest queer novels of the nineteenth century, and it still does not have an English-language wikipedia entry

www.patreon.com/posts/reflec...

Reflections on Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) | kmichaelwilson

Get more from kmichaelwilson on Patreon

www.patreon.com

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 2d

though Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) is not, as is sometimes claimed, an "ancient gay encyclopedia," it is one of the greatest queer novels of the nineteenth century, and it still does not have an English-language wikipedia entry

www.patreon.com/posts/reflec...

Reflections on Flower Bouquet in the Polished Mirror 品花寶鑑 (1849) | kmichaelwilson

Get more from kmichaelwilson on Patreon

www.patreon.com

2 4

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 2d

Having the character count for a Chinese translation of Proust is a key piece of the puzzle. I'll go back and update the post, once the mystery is resolved.

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 2d

Of course, this is exactly the subject of this post 😅:

What's longer, Proust's Remembrance of Things Past or Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber? 🀄📚

a discussion of how to compare works written in different languages, and why it does (and does not) matter

www.patreon.com/posts/big-bo...

Big Book Energy, and How to Measure It | kmichaelwilson

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www.patreon.com

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 2d

"The upcoming translation is the result of a four-year project [...] involving seven Taiwanese translators, each handling one volume, for a total of more than 2 million words, the publisher said in a statement."

Words, or Chinese characters?

www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

Taiwan to finally have a translation of Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time’ - Taipei Times

Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

www.taipeitimes.com

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 4d

🔥 ICYMI (including a thread of recent Ming-Qing literature-related blog posts)

Rereading the Stone (Podcast) @rereadingstone.bsky.social · 4d

🎙️ episode drop🎙️ Chapter 43 part 1

This chapter 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 raise funds for Xifeng’s birthday…)

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...

the whole gang, from the 1980s classic TV rendition of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢/ 石頭記

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 4d

this tweet feels like the thesis of an essay

maybe it... should be

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 6d

thinking about how in Ming-Qing literature, a lot of reincarnation and "past lives" rhetoric serves as a provisional space for the articulation of psychological theories that, just like modern psychology, posit oblique origins for illogical or irrational individual behavior

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Reposted by Kevin

Rereading the Stone (Podcast) @rereadingstone.bsky.social · 4d

a post about a novel that is directly in dialogue with Dream of the Red Chamber, is easily one of the greatest queer novels of the 19th century, and which, to this day, does not have an English Wikipedia entry

www.patreon.com/posts/nothin...

Nothing Mongering, and the Feeling When “Important Literature” Doesn’t Have an English-language Wikipedia Entry | kmichaelwilson

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1 1 2

Reposted by Kevin

Rereading the Stone (Podcast) @rereadingstone.bsky.social · 4d

What's longer, Proust's Remembrance of Things Past or Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber? 🀄📚

a post about how to compare works written in different languages, and why it does (and does not) matter

www.patreon.com/posts/big-bo...

Big Book Energy, and How to Measure It | kmichaelwilson

Get more from kmichaelwilson on Patreon

www.patreon.com

1 2 2

Reposted by Kevin

Rereading the Stone (Podcast) @rereadingstone.bsky.social · 4d

🎙️ episode drop🎙️ Chapter 43 part 1

This chapter 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 raise funds for Xifeng’s birthday…)

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...

1 3 7

Reposted by Kevin

SFSN @monteurhulot.bsky.social · 5d

You could try turning into a corncob. I hear that works

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 5d

I'm still making a big ol' chronological list of Ming-Qing 小說 novels (currently at around 220 entries), but were there already such a list out there that I don't know about that maybe you'd be willing to share, to save me the effort, I would appreciate it? 😅 🀄📚

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Reposted by Kevin

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 6d

let's not lose sight of the fact that if you were a cool person leading a meaningful life, you wouldn't have posted that

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 6d

let's not lose sight of the fact that if you were a cool person leading a meaningful life, you wouldn't have posted that

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 6d

thinking about how in Ming-Qing literature, a lot of reincarnation and "past lives" rhetoric serves as a provisional space for the articulation of psychological theories that, just like modern psychology, posit oblique origins for illogical or irrational individual behavior

2

Reposted by Kevin

Jeff Reguilon @coolguy.party · 6d

Another delightful angle of the incident from user Anbu_Dropout on Reddit.

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 6d

🌸🌺🎉

Reposted by Kevin

Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 7d

Qing Dynasty male authors writing two female characters discussing anything at all:

woman #1: by the way, I know this isn't relevant, but you are so beautiful, and, if I were man, I would not hesitate—
woman #2: [laughing] that's so sweet, if I were man, I would marry you AND your maid

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 7d

Qing Dynasty male authors writing two female characters discussing anything at all:

woman #1: by the way, I know this isn't relevant, but you are so beautiful, and, if I were man, I would not hesitate—
woman #2: [laughing] that's so sweet, if I were man, I would marry you AND your maid

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 7d

Predator meets Bridgerton