Rereading the Stone

Baoyu, idle and seeking artifice, stumbles upon real acts of desire. If Chapter 5 represents the dream as a form of desire, how does Chapter 19 represent artistic forms? In this first part of our Chapter 19 discussion, we discuss Baoyu’s ambiguous relationship with Aroma, his interactions with Nanny Li, and his lack of self-awareness.

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The final part of our deep-dive into the poetry showcased in Chapter 18 celebrating Yuanchun’s visit home. In this part we consider all of the contributions in Baoyu’s name. Issues of nature versus the natural reemerge, and Daiyu continues to be a poet diva. Behold the garden, behold the dream! Relax, enjoy some partially-enclosed spice mountains, why not? We dive deeply into all the allusions and embrace fully the readerly state of sensory overload.

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The first part of our deep-dive into the poetry showcased in Chapter 18 celebrating Yuanchun’s visit home. In this part we consider all of the contributions except those in Baoyu’s name. Specific interpretations are offered and critiqued, while general theoretical concerns previously addressed reemerge. How do these poems reflect the personalities (and the fates?) of their creators? What is the relationship between art and artifice when you're a fictional character engaged in artistic creation?

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We continue exploring Yuanchun’s new social standing in this episode. What does it mean to live in a gilded cage, a shimmering space of ritual and power? How does her new position affect her relationship with her family? Meanwhile poet-rockstar Daiyu feels that her talents are going to waste, Baochai plays the teacher, and Baoyu cheats on the test.

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Imperial Concubine Yuanchun returns home to visit family, to see the garden constructed in her honor, to review and edit the names and couplets assigned to all of the most famous spots, and to hear the celebratory, yet serious, poems everyone has written for the occasion. We begin by discussing temporal discrepancies in this chapter, exploring the relationship between logical contradiction and the oblique logic of dreaming. What does it mean to live in a gilded cage, a shimmering space of ritual and power? And why isn’t musk popular anymore? 

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The final part of our first garden tour, can you handle this assault on the senses? Can you process this profusion of effusive allusions? Will it prompt your weary soul to dream fragrant dreams? Where’s the line between free play and plagiarism? Are you at home with homage, or do you rectify all references, towing the literal interpretative line? Our battle of literary minds reaches a fever pitch!

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The garden gives and gives, and the tension between Baoyu and Jia Zheng is heightening! As one penetrates art and artifice ever more deeply, fiction becomes reality, and reality becomes hyperreality. The mock village here tucked away would have pulled at Marie Antoinette’s heartstrings, so is it any surprise that Jia Zheng likes it? Baoyu goes off and unleashes an extended critique, and is met with verbal abuse. What is the meaning of nature and the natural (tianran 天然), and how does it relate to art and meaning? Also the fragrance of gardens is foregrounded in this episode; gardens aren’t just for the eyes!

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Deeper — into the garden! This leisurely stroll through Prospect Garden 大觀園, a location of central significance for Hong lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), doubles as a feat of poetic strength. We discuss further all the deep-cut historical references flying about and their possible significance for this chapter and for theories of art and meaning. Baoyu unleashes his poetic A-game material, but also seems to alienate his father with the sensual and sensuous acuity of his verses.

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An episode not to be missed — enter the garden! This leisurely stroll through Prospect Garden 大觀園, a location of central significance for Hong lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), doubles as a feat of poetic strength. Can Baoyu’s “wayward talent” mitigate his father’s skepticism and dismissiveness? We foreground a number of themes already emphasized on the podcast, in particular aesthetics and philosophies of beauty and art. Is beauty a reflection of nature, or does it rely on upon artistic vision and will? 

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In this episode, Rereading the Stone explores the subtext of a rather oblique discussion between Xifeng and Jia Lian, and Qin Zhong’s descent into the Yellow Springs is excavated. What lies beneath words and symbolic accoutrement, and what does it mean that the Ministers of the Underworld have already heard the legends of the magical jade? 

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