Chinese Literature Podcast: Interview with Susan Wan Dolling - Translator of Chinese Poetry

Today, Lee gets to chat with , Hong-Kong-American poet, novelist and translator. She recently published her latest book of Song poetry translations, , but she has long been working on translating Chinese poetry into an English that does what is hard to do, that preserves the music that you hear in the Chinese original. If you want to check out more of her translations, check out (volume 1 of her Song poetry translations), (volume 1 of her My China in Tang Poetry series), (volume 2 of her My China in Tang Poetry series) and (volume 3 of her My China in Tang Poetry series). Also, my book, China's Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn't Want You to Read is out! You can purchase a copy of it here from my publisher: Or you can purchase it on Amazon . If you are interested, check out the nice things smart people have said about the book .    

I really enjoyed this interview with Joel Bigman, author of The Second Journey. It’s a continuation novel of Journey to the West where Tang Seng, Sun Wukong and Pigsy travel even further west than before—as far as the Levant—making friends and participating in Talmudic stories.

Libsyn: https://chineseliteraturepodcast.libsyn.com/joel-bigman-a-very-jewish-journey-to-the-west

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/chinese-literature-podcast/id1102235260?i=1000685409183

#ChineseLiteraturePodcast #ChineseLiterature #JewishLiterature #podcasts

Chinese Literature Podcast: Joel Bigman - A Very Jewish Journey to the West

Today, we have an interview Joel Bigman, the author of The Second Journey. The Second Journey is a continuation novel of Journey to the West (西遊記). In this journey to the West, Tang monk travels ever farther to the west, all the way to modern day Israel. Bigman has written his novel with some of the same characters that you know and love, Tang Monk, Monkey and Pigsy, but he also has some new characters like Bear (the Second Samson). This new team travels through the Holy Lands, encountering Jewish monsters and some other characters.  If you are interested in buying his great novel, check out these book sellers:       

Housework entertainment: listening to two lovely American academics beat around the bush for 8 minutes before admitting one very obvious interpretation of this poem. https://chineseliteraturepodcast.libsyn.com/zhang-jie-water-dragon-chant

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Chinese Literature Podcast: Zhang Jie - Water Dragon Chant

Today, we begin a quick mini series on a pair of poems. Both poems are titled "Water Dragon Chant," the first is by Zhang Jie, the latter by Su Dongpo. The latter was written in response to the first one. Both choose a specific kind of flower as their subject. This week, Lee and Rob debate whether Zhang Jie's poem is a nasty poem about that uses flower petals as metaphors for sperm and skeeting (please do not google this term). 

I’m still reading the Book of Songs, but I admit my velocity has dropped off a bit after reaching the end of the Airs of the States.

Feeling somewhat vindicated by this episode of the #ChineseLiteraturePodcast, which discusses the poem She Bore the Folk (生民): https://chineseliteraturepodcast.libsyn.com/podcast/she-bore-the-folk, https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/chinese-literature-podcast/id1102235260?i=1000631326273. Lee Moore points out that although all the poems in the #Shijing are important, it’s the lyric ones that are most quoted in Chinese literature, not the narrative ones!

There’s also some musing on the different place of mythology in Chinese vs Green literature.

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Chinese Literature Podcast: She Bore the Folk

The third in the series on the Book of Poems, this episode looks at the mythological poem on the birth of the god of agriculture, Lord Millet.