Kevin
@kmichaelwilson.bsky.social
Historical Chinese literature, poetry, and philosophy. Co-host Rereading the Stone podcast https://bsky.app/profile/rereadingstone.bsky.social
book reviews & discussion of Ming-Qing literature, science fiction, etc. https://www.patreon.com/kmichaelwilson
book reviews & discussion of Ming-Qing literature, science fiction, etc. https://www.patreon.com/kmichaelwilson
you all transformed this app into the most cursed study group imaginable
begrudging respect
begrudging respect
November 14, 2025 at 5:35 AM
you all transformed this app into the most cursed study group imaginable
begrudging respect
begrudging respect
these historical Chinese novels insist on teaching you basic mathematical and logical principles mid-dialogue
November 14, 2025 at 4:52 AM
these historical Chinese novels insist on teaching you basic mathematical and logical principles mid-dialogue
Just a brilliant setup (7 chapters in), how come no one else thought of this?! A hero, but a Confucian hero?
Which means:
-navigating tough "ritual situations" (oh no, balancing rules and circumstance?!)
-constantly fending off marriage proposals on account of your good physiognomy
Which means:
-navigating tough "ritual situations" (oh no, balancing rules and circumstance?!)
-constantly fending off marriage proposals on account of your good physiognomy
Maybe the longest novel in the whole Ming-Qing canon? And possibly a "Confucian counterpoint" to HLM?
any Rustic Elder Laying out Truths 野叟曝言 (18th C.) appreciators in the crowd?
November 14, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Just a brilliant setup (7 chapters in), how come no one else thought of this?! A hero, but a Confucian hero?
Which means:
-navigating tough "ritual situations" (oh no, balancing rules and circumstance?!)
-constantly fending off marriage proposals on account of your good physiognomy
Which means:
-navigating tough "ritual situations" (oh no, balancing rules and circumstance?!)
-constantly fending off marriage proposals on account of your good physiognomy
Reposted by Kevin
I do appreciate this novel, though! If anything, this is something I've been struggling to articulate lately... its failures are its longitudinal successes? This clunky novel is a treasure, partly on account of its author's aesthetic imperfections? How he just lets the contradictions flow...
November 14, 2025 at 3:43 AM
I do appreciate this novel, though! If anything, this is something I've been struggling to articulate lately... its failures are its longitudinal successes? This clunky novel is a treasure, partly on account of its author's aesthetic imperfections? How he just lets the contradictions flow...
biblically accurate angel, appearing in a dream: "I am your representative podcast listener. As you can see, I know. I have 12,000 eyes. I really do know. When you wake up, you will know that I know, and you will not feel the need to ask continually everyone you talk with whether they know or not."
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
biblically accurate angel, appearing in a dream: "I am your representative podcast listener. As you can see, I know. I have 12,000 eyes. I really do know. When you wake up, you will know that I know, and you will not feel the need to ask continually everyone you talk with whether they know or not."
in the upcoming episode, Will makes a kind of subtle pun that I don't think I even registered until now (upon editing)
"cutting edge" to describe a new translation by RJ Cutter
classic
"cutting edge" to describe a new translation by RJ Cutter
classic
November 13, 2025 at 7:25 PM
in the upcoming episode, Will makes a kind of subtle pun that I don't think I even registered until now (upon editing)
"cutting edge" to describe a new translation by RJ Cutter
classic
"cutting edge" to describe a new translation by RJ Cutter
classic
"Flitter"
Do we know Landon told anyone that he was having this convo with Epstein? We do not! But let’s say an editor knew. Then what? At most, it would be the beginning of an investigation. Would Landon be the reporter to do it? Probably not! You see he’s begging Epstein for specifics & doesn’t get them
November 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
"Flitter"
She eventually dies from this injury? This book...
Mind not "blown" per se. Mind in productive disarray over ambiguous authorial intent and a mismatch between authorial ambitions and ability
Mind not "blown" per se. Mind in productive disarray over ambiguous authorial intent and a mismatch between authorial ambitions and ability
cut off your finger... for your husband?! isn't that a crime against Confucianism?
you're not even first wife!
you're not even first wife!
November 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM
She eventually dies from this injury? This book...
Mind not "blown" per se. Mind in productive disarray over ambiguous authorial intent and a mismatch between authorial ambitions and ability
Mind not "blown" per se. Mind in productive disarray over ambiguous authorial intent and a mismatch between authorial ambitions and ability
Joe Biden treated your student loans as having greater moral gravity than the sex crimes of his personal associates
November 13, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Joe Biden treated your student loans as having greater moral gravity than the sex crimes of his personal associates
Reposted by Kevin
Your "full Aristotle" is your intellectual and spiritual potential, were you to live in a utopian society that supported you fully
November 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Your "full Aristotle" is your intellectual and spiritual potential, were you to live in a utopian society that supported you fully
imagining a coat of arms with "what year is it" as its motto
November 11, 2025 at 11:57 PM
imagining a coat of arms with "what year is it" as its motto
I don't want the "pull" component of scholarship to be part of my scholarly "identity" at all
"Oh, I'm so good at querying the databases" -- listen to yourself, you should be embarrassed you're not reading poetry
"Oh, I'm so good at querying the databases" -- listen to yourself, you should be embarrassed you're not reading poetry
November 11, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I don't want the "pull" component of scholarship to be part of my scholarly "identity" at all
"Oh, I'm so good at querying the databases" -- listen to yourself, you should be embarrassed you're not reading poetry
"Oh, I'm so good at querying the databases" -- listen to yourself, you should be embarrassed you're not reading poetry
People don't understand that every time you argue "don't go to graduate study if you're not independently wealthy" what you're really saying is "we have organized society such that graduate school is a great opportunity, but only for the independently wealthy, and basically I'm okay with this"
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
People don't understand that every time you argue "don't go to graduate study if you're not independently wealthy" what you're really saying is "we have organized society such that graduate school is a great opportunity, but only for the independently wealthy, and basically I'm okay with this"
Reposted by Kevin
This “solution” to the problem of “world’s worst wife” is contrasted with divorce, even despite the strength of Di Xichen’s individual case against Xue Sujie, whose “crimes against nature” were inscribed on her very face and body (after the monkey incident)
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This “solution” to the problem of “world’s worst wife” is contrasted with divorce, even despite the strength of Di Xichen’s individual case against Xue Sujie, whose “crimes against nature” were inscribed on her very face and body (after the monkey incident)
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
Literature is studied outside of the university more often, and at greater depths of analytical resolution, than within
November 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Literature is studied outside of the university more often, and at greater depths of analytical resolution, than within
the capital form had grown a veritable "head like a hole," demonstrating strong anti-social preferences for death itself over any loss in executive agency
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
the capital form had grown a veritable "head like a hole," demonstrating strong anti-social preferences for death itself over any loss in executive agency
This “solution” to the problem of “world’s worst wife” is contrasted with divorce, even despite the strength of Di Xichen’s individual case against Xue Sujie, whose “crimes against nature” were inscribed on her very face and body (after the monkey incident)
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This “solution” to the problem of “world’s worst wife” is contrasted with divorce, even despite the strength of Di Xichen’s individual case against Xue Sujie, whose “crimes against nature” were inscribed on her very face and body (after the monkey incident)
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
www.patreon.com/posts/impres...
with fresh eyes, pondering this morning Hai Rui's policy proposal forbidding proper burial for corrupt officials
wait, this is good, right?
this makes Hai Rui good, no? all things considered
(listened to a podcast where the host was like, paraphrasing, "I can't sign off on Hai Rui's going after the moneylenders, it'll affect the base rate!")
this makes Hai Rui good, no? all things considered
(listened to a podcast where the host was like, paraphrasing, "I can't sign off on Hai Rui's going after the moneylenders, it'll affect the base rate!")
![Hai was reappointed as a minor official serving at South Zhili under the Longing Emperor, son and heir of Jiajing Emperor, but was soon forced to resign in 1570 after complaints were made over his overzealous handling of land-tenure issues.
Major moneylenders in the prefecture were accused of lending at exorbitant rates to smaller landowners and tenants, then seizing their lands as collateral. Hai devoted considerable time to investigate these cases, pressing for the lands' return to their previous owners, but was in turn accused by officials of violating procedures and encouraging frivolous complaints and impeached by Tai Feng-Hsiang, a supervising secretary (yushi). [from Wikipedia]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:n7zttrwglryfssyh2yycb5fr/bafkreiete6zmaedjxikoebawgcsgbdsa4b25uhwvz5towkkhpkhrr2zpiy@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
with fresh eyes, pondering this morning Hai Rui's policy proposal forbidding proper burial for corrupt officials
Reposted by Kevin
trying for a readable, casual but theoretically adept discussion of A Marriage Fate to Awaken the Ages 醒世姻緣傳, a seventeenth century text that boldly asks, “what if having a mean wife were your karmic destiny?”
long and meandering impressions on the most important Chinese novel of the seventeenth century
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...
Impressions on A Marriage Fate to Awaken the Ages 醒世姻緣傳 (17th C.) | kmichaelwilson
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November 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
trying for a readable, casual but theoretically adept discussion of A Marriage Fate to Awaken the Ages 醒世姻緣傳, a seventeenth century text that boldly asks, “what if having a mean wife were your karmic destiny?”
Reposted by Kevin
"When you’re not scared of the alien from Alien, or Freddie from A Nightmare on Elm’s Street, you might begin realizing they’re kind of lovable and misunderstood. So, too, with Sujie by the end of the novel."
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...
November 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
"When you’re not scared of the alien from Alien, or Freddie from A Nightmare on Elm’s Street, you might begin realizing they’re kind of lovable and misunderstood. So, too, with Sujie by the end of the novel."
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...
www.patreon.com/posts/143085...