In the space between dreaming and waking, what rules apply? What feelings are displaced in acts of judgment? Do those who dream us wish us well? A turning point in Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone 石頭記) (Hong lou meng, Hongloumeng) (紅樓夢, 红楼梦), the story of the ill-fated Golden 金釧.

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Plays within plays, and a meta-cognitive dispute! Is every jade tear still a microcosm? Do two false representations make one shared reality? Part 2 of our discussion of Chapter 29 of Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢，红楼梦), Story of the Stone (石头记).

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In Chapter 29 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hongloumeng 紅樓夢, Story of the Stone 石頭記), the crew is out and about in full force. Even before the plays begin, a spitting is delegated, a collision is mitigated, and a famous jade is investigated.

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The poetry party, an artistic dream within a dream, continues! Readers of Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone 石頭記, Hongloumeng 紅樓夢) are here first introduced to the poetic stylings of Xue Pan 薛蟠, arguably the first postmodern brutalist poet in the classical Chinese literary tradition! 

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Baoyu and Daiyu try to work through mutual misunderstanding, and matters of medicine reemerge. At Feng Ziying’s party, verses are improvised on the subject of female joys and sorrows, yet another poetic opportunity for red chamber dream projections.  

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In this episode we broach one of the most central questions of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 — why bury fallen flowers? Attempting to answer this question, we discuss cuckoos, mottled bamboo, the end of spring, cold pillows, inner chambers, and tears of blood. We also touch upon the relationship between interpretative spaces and values to live by.

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Baoyu seeks Daiyu, who is notably absent bemoaning the season. Baochai chases butterflies, and Crimson enumerates a bewildering array of ladies.

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A scion of great wealth demonstrates a dearth of erudition, while a legendary worrier transcends nature’s limits.

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Real affections between Crimson and Jia Yun are ornamented by dream and fantasy, while the Name of the Father is appropriated for idle pleasures.  Daiyu’s feelings of social exclusion are accentuated by the proximity of desire.

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Things get weird when Mother Ma throws down a surprisingly efficacious curse. Xifeng starts slaughtering miscellaneous animals, and Baoyu is consumed by suicidal ideation. We discuss the fortuitous, surprising reappearance of the Daoist priest and Buddhist monk, and Baoyu’s relationship to, and identity with, his magical, metafictional jade. 

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