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"Nirvana in Fire"/"Lang Ya Bang" Group Read: Discussion Post for Chapters 1-4
We're taking a break from poetry to read Lang Ya Bang/Nirvana in Fire. We did try this before, over a year ago, but now we're doing it in concert with a larger Discord of people. If that's your preferred book-club method, contact ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
superborb for an invite.
I'll be on there, but also doing a weekly post with thoughts over here. Feel free to join in/discuss here if Dreamwidth is your preferred method.
If anyone is interested in![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dankodes running further poetry content during or after NiF, please let me know what you'd be keen to discuss. I'm happy to work with you on that. I'll probably ask this again once NiF draws to a close.
For the first week, we're discussing chapters 1-4 of Lang Ya Bang. This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on May 9th.
Chinese text: https://sj.uukanshu.com/book.aspx?id=17338
English translation: https://merelhyn.tumblr.com/post/641747965727358976/the-langya-list-epubpdf
SPOILER POLICY: I personally don't give a fuck or even like to give unearned credence to the concept, so since I'm writing the post, anything's fair game.
superborb for an invite. I'll be on there, but also doing a weekly post with thoughts over here. Feel free to join in/discuss here if Dreamwidth is your preferred method.
If anyone is interested in
dankodes running further poetry content during or after NiF, please let me know what you'd be keen to discuss. I'm happy to work with you on that. I'll probably ask this again once NiF draws to a close.For the first week, we're discussing chapters 1-4 of Lang Ya Bang. This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on May 9th.
Chinese text: https://sj.uukanshu.com/book.aspx?id=17338
English translation: https://merelhyn.tumblr.com/post/641747965727358976/the-langya-list-epubpdf
SPOILER POLICY: I personally don't give a fuck or even like to give unearned credence to the concept, so since I'm writing the post, anything's fair game.
Chapter 1
- 'as if trying to erase the grandiose'?
- 'like smoke, like dust' feels like a quote, but it's not footnoted
- Li Cong's fate is such a strong Clue to the bad turn the regime has taken
- in a way, Revival of a Decaying Dynasty (rarely achieved, according to popular imaginaries of Chinese historiography) is the fantasy here
- I think the concept that sorrow could harm your body could do with a note of explication
- dude I think you do have to say what 'by the Emperor's brush' means bc the first time I watched NIF I was like, so the Emperor was--up on a scaffold? A shrimp fried this rice?
- "paying respects to Buddha today" what exactly this is and why it would necessitate her resting at the Manor afterwards confuse me
- what's Demonic Sect in this situation?
- interesting that posh people would decamp to temples--are they set up to receive such stays? I guess!
- D stresses that 'went to battle with the demonic sect' is formal duelling rather than warfare
And this is what I noted on my previous read:
- First off, do you think they call their fic challenge Langya Big Bang? Because if not, truly a wasted opportunity.
- Is Changsu's tutor's death a change from the show canon, or are these different men? I didn't think about it at the time, but the absence of major Confucian scholars from the court is probably a tacit rebuke of the Emperor, isn't it?
- Was it the execution of beloved scholarly Lin Shu and the crown prince that cemented their dissatisfaction, or some other great idea of World's Meh-est Dad's?
- Compared to some of the rough rides out there, this initial translator is fucking gold
- It's interesting that copies of the emperor's calligraphy/handwriting are referred to as his calligraphy: he did not come out here and paint this house. Struggling to think of another visual art where we'd say that of a lay reproduction?
- Jingrui is the product of a poly quartet idk why we're being shy about this let the people know the truth. Their moms play go together, and if Hikaru No Go has taught me anything--
Re: Chapter 1
I am not sure 'demonic' is the connotation we're supposed to get.
Re: Chapter 1
Re: Chapter 1
Re: Chapter 1
"paying respects to Buddha today" what exactly this is and why it would necessitate her resting at the Manor afterwards confuse me. I'm not sure what it is but I think it's meant as a character reference. She pays proper respect to the gods. It tells us she's a good person. But that's a guess. And I'd say that the temple was far away but why wouldn't there be a temple in a big city?
I think it's the same Confucian scholar in both the book and the drama. When prince Mu Qing goes to fetch the scholar, isn't he asked, in the drama, if his surname is Li?
Re: Chapter 1
- Yeah I think there has to be something about--a temple the royal family has access to inside the imperial city proper, or something, and maybe? Protocol around the relatively simple journey makes her staying overnight in her discrete manor there make sense.
Re: Chapter 1
I like your thinking on the temple and protocols. I can definitely see that being the reason she has to stay at her palace after visiting the temple.
Re: Chapter 1
There is this paper, that i will go and find later, that talks about the emperor's official handwriting and the empress using it in Song dynasty.
As far as i could tell, it wasn't everything handwritten by the emperor that counted as official word of emperor, but anything written in his handwriting. And even then, there were specific people who could use it? The empress, selected officials, i assume, there were woodcarvers from the palace here.
(In this case then, i would say it's not that every reproduction is the real thing but that no reproductions are allowed besides the official ones. Or that, it's not a reproduction of the emperor's hand, just the "font" for official documents.)