Rereading the Stone (Podcast)
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rereadingstone.bsky.social
Rereading the Stone (Podcast)
@rereadingstone.bsky.social
240 followers 240 following 74 posts
a podcast by @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social
& William Jones on Chinese literature, poetry, & philosophy, currently: Qing dynasty classic Dream of the Red Chamber #紅樓夢 #石頭記

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269965
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rereadingstone.bsky.social
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.
Baoyu and Tealeaf at the Water Spirit Priory, from the television adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 #红楼梦 #石头记
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🎙️episode drop🎙️ 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.

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...
Baoyu and Tealeaf at the Water Spirit Priory 紅樓夢 #红楼梦 #石头记 Baoyu and Tealeaf at the Water Spirit Priory
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🎙️ 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…)

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the whole gang, from the 1980s classic TV rendition of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢/ 石頭記
October 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
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
Daiyu delivering an apt insult
August 11, 2025 at 6:07 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🎙️episode drop🎙️🌺 continuing the discussion of Chapter 42

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?

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...
painting depicting Grannie Liu aka "Mother Locust" (but don't call her that) another painting, same series, Grannie Liu chatting with Grandmother Jia, most of the gang present
August 11, 2025 at 6:07 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
These and other questions are all addressed in this installment of Rereading the Stone, a podcast dedicated to historical Chinese literature, poetry, and philosophy.

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...
rare Daiyu looking at the camera moment
July 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
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?
sisterly embrace
July 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
If you saw an immortal soul falling into the well of mortal existence, would you intervene and save them?
Daiyu and Baochai each bringing their usual energy
July 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🎙️episode drop 🎙️ we're talking chapter 42 of Dream of the Red Chamber #紅樓夢

Suppose your child were born on the seventh day of the seventh month, what would you do?

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1980s tv version of scene where Granny Liu chooses a name for Xifeng's daughter
July 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🚨episode drop🚨 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 Baoyu’s dream from Qin Keqing’s bed.

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...
Grannie Liu belatedly going through her "mirror phase" in Baoyu's inner chambers
May 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🚨episode drop🚨 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.

www.buzzsprout.com/admin/126996...
Grannie Liu going through her "mirror phase"
May 20, 2025 at 7:54 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
this joke landed too well ("what about a slap?"), so I gotta turn the gain down for a moment in order to save your ears

#safetyfirst #hongloumeng
image of audio track where it clips somewhat due to Will's generous laughter
May 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🪵
April 6, 2025 at 4:52 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🚨episode drop🚨 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

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/epis...
Granny with a big ol' wooden cup oversized chopsticks to make one feel RIDICULOUS
April 5, 2025 at 2:55 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🚨episode drop🚨 the tall boys are back with games, poetry, and free associative prognostication!

This part of chapter 40 of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (Story of the Stone, Hongloumeng) is lots of poetic fun, but is it purely fun and games?

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February 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
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 water, Daiyu famously discusses the poetry of Tang poet Li Shangyin 李商隱

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

🀄📚
TV Xifeng struggling to steer the craft
November 18, 2024 at 8:33 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🔥 new episode 🔥

continuing Chapter 40 of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢

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

🀄📚
a classical depiction of Prospect Garden, boating amenities prominently in the foreground
November 18, 2024 at 8:33 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
just learning that Frances Ford Coppola is dreampilled

www.newyorker.com/books/book-c...

#紅樓夢
The Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xuegin Over the last fifteen years or so, I've gotten in the habit of trying to choose something to read that's totally not like what I'm working on, to sort of have a rest. But what happens 清 音 when you try to do this is that it merely bends what you're working on to be more like what you're reading. This is a Chinese book, which is also sometimes called "The Story of the Stone." In a nutshell, it's about a family in eighteenth-century China who were a little PENGUIN high up: they had some wealth and status, and one of the main character's sisters had become a consort of the emperor. The CAO XUEQIN The Story of the Stone Volume I protagonist, who is kind of based on the author, was a boy raised with all these girls Amazon Bookshop sisters and cousins and the handmaids they had in those days. The author thought that the women he grew up with were so wonderful that he wanted history to know that they existed. I read it while I was working on "Megalopolis" after having read all of Proust (which also influenced everything). The book is really beautiful. And one thing about it I took is that, when you're reading, you're not only in the story but you're also in the characters' dreams. I thought, Why can't I do that?
November 10, 2024 at 6:52 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🔥 🚨 🎙️ episode drop 🔥 🚨 🎙️

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 😂

#红楼梦 #readingstone

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Grannie Liu looking fabulous with her flowers
June 8, 2024 at 3:09 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
episode drop: chapter 39 of HLM 紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber) pt. 2

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

#readingstone

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tv rendition (not the good one) of the great grannie/ grandma gathering classic tv granny liu actually a line from chapter 40, but close enough; I chose it for the facial expression (viz., silly, cheek puffed out comically)
April 6, 2024 at 9:26 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
episode drop: Ch. 39 pt 1

We treat the first part of Chapter 39 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone, 红楼梦), as Li Wan and friends wax philosophical on the importance of having good servants to dissipate loneliness…

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picture of Li Wan from the 1980s tv adaptation picture of the whole gang (minus Baoyu), from the same adaptation
January 31, 2024 at 5:19 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🚨 episode drop: Chapter 38 pt. 3 🚨 come listen to us read through some more poetry on the chrysanthemum 菊花, a timely autumn theme!

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/1367...
September 28, 2023 at 7:00 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
🎙️ episode drop 🎙️ : The Chapter 38 poetry review continues!

www.buzzsprout.com/1269965/1349...
August 30, 2023 at 7:59 PM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
Lin Daiyu playing the qin 琴 "zither"

#hongloumeng #storyofthestone
August 29, 2023 at 1:56 AM
rereadingstone.bsky.social
blueskying the stone
August 27, 2023 at 7:44 PM