Originally posted by: fcgamer
Originally posted by: TheFinder
I'm currently reading one of the Chinese classic novels (sometimes called the Four Chinese Classics): The Dream of the Red Chamber/The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin. I'm really enjoying it, though I can honestly say that I'm not entirely sure why.
Additionally, I'm listening to Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini, and it is fantastic. I highly recommend it!
I was reading through this thread last night, and I was shocked when I saw you post. I wanted to respond then and there, but it was getting late and I decided to head to bed.
The thing is, I am also reading through this same story. I took a picture of the version I am reading.
The story is quite notorious I've heard, due to characters having similar names and what not. Even a mainlander I know, who lives in the same city as OptOut, responded to me with an "OMG" when told him I was reading this book. He said that it's a nightmare to read in Chinese, even to a native speaker.
I'm enjoying the read through as well, I'm about 1/3rd of the way through. I rarely read on the weekends, but I usually have about an hour a day of free time at my job, as well as trying to read a chapter before bed every night, through the week.
Another thing, I was really surprised by how sexual the book is, I guess maybe it's the equivalent of reading a modern romance novel?
Anyways, glad to see someone else here reading this, I'd love to chat more with you at some point, especially if you've read some other Chinese classic literature in the past. Seems like we could get along quite well.
I, too, am shocked someone else is reading this! It makes me really excited to have someone with whom to talk about it!
I'm reading the Penguin edition translated by David Hawkes:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/series/...
It actually sometimes throws me off, since the translator is British, and I'm American, so when he uses British-isms or Scottish loanwords I have to look them up.
I heard about the book from doing some research for my teaching job. Then a series of clicks later, and I found out about the Four Chinese Classics and decided to try my way through them. This is the first of the books I've undertaken to read. I'm also about a 1/3 of the way through (I think). I'm over halfway (maybe 2/3rds) through the second volume of five. I just finished the chapter about Wang Xi-Feng's birthday and the aftermath last night.
It's definitely a sexual book. Some of it is subtle-ish, but there's some blatant stuff, too. That was also a surprise to me. And I can't imagine trying to keep everything straight in native Chinese. My edition has multiple family trees and a glossary of characters to help keep everything straight, and I have to reference it rather frequently to make sure I know who the book is talking about. If my copy didn't have that, I'd have been lost a long time ago.
We should definitely chat about the book. Feel free to PM me. I want to finish this one, then I'll probably read something else, and then I'm thinking I'll dive into either The Journey to the West or The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (I haven't gotten The Water Margin/The Marshes of Mount Liang/Outlaws of the Marsh yet, since I think I want the Dent-Young translation [I'd be happy to hear opinions on the various translations], but I haven't found a good set of them).
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To the Finder...
The Isle of Koholint is but an illusion...
Human, monster, sea, sky...
A scene on the lid of a sleeper's eye...
Awake the dreamer, and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle...
Cast-away, you should know the Truth!
My FS/WTB threads: http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...
