tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post3641986900714436091..comments2024-03-27T23:55:17.673-07:00Comments on Flogging Babel: Great Blog Posts of the Late Ming DynastyMichael Swanwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-26981032291241159292010-09-22T19:25:26.187-07:002010-09-22T19:25:26.187-07:00Hah! If only admiring the hell out of an author w...Hah! If only admiring the hell out of an author would endear us to him.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-77938538030992275422010-09-22T15:43:05.399-07:002010-09-22T15:43:05.399-07:00Sorry, that should have read "endeared him to...Sorry, that should have read "endeared him to me".David Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09983230505509685792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-4935121269461284052010-09-22T13:00:18.206-07:002010-09-22T13:00:18.206-07:00The thing about Zhang Dai that always endeared me ...The thing about Zhang Dai that always endeared me to him was that he basically survived an apocalypse- the end of the Ming Dynasty. All of the stories he wrote about his privileged and decadent childhood were written after the Manchus invaded and pretty much destroyed the way of life he had known as a kid. He would have been either hiding out in the mountains, or living as an impoverished scholar who refused to "collaborate" with the new authorities. So when he writes that he "is ashamed" I think he really meant it; he seems to be nostalgic for the late Ming way of life, but often I think there is a great deal of regret as well for having lived so decadently right before the destruction of his homeland, likely he felt in some sense partly responsible for what happened.<br /><br />Jonathan D. Spence published an entertaining biographical work about Zhang a few years back, <i>Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man</i>.David Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09983230505509685792noreply@blogger.com