What is this?

I’m not sure either, but it seems to include a lot of Chinese literature in translation. The title is a couple of puns. Updates are irregular once-or-twice-a-week-ish deals when I can manage them.

I launched this with a translation of the 17th-century critic Jin Shengtan’s 金聖嘆 “33 Nice Things” 不亦快哉33則, one of the most likable pieces of writing I know of in any language. It’s no secret that the Chinese literary tradition is big and impressive; the idea here, insofar as I have one, is to point out, where I can, how fun and human and interesting and enjoyable it is, too. For anyone interested, I have some notes on my translation process in a post about the Yuan-dynasty poet Qiao Ji’s 喬吉 “Explaining Myself” 自述, and am always happy to talk translation.

Why subscribe?

Why anything? I’ve spent either too much or not enough time with Chinese literature to do anything else with my life, and this is where I post things that I find interesting, or funny, or beautiful. I liked them, so I translated them and shared them in the hopes that you or somebody like you would enjoy them too.

Stay up-to-date

That’s Substack’s headline, not mine, but I promise to keep you abreast of any 17th century developments as soon as I become aware of them.