Light Reading

I've somewhat surprised myself over the fact that I've been thoroughly enjoying reading David Hawkes's translation of Volume 1 of the classic The Story of the Stone aka The Dream of the Red Chamber. The tome in question covers only the first 26 chapters of the full 120 (or thereabouts) and is entitled (or sub-titled, I suppose) The Golden Days. I had it with me back in December in the UK, but read hardly a page, being completely unable to get into it. And then I made a bit more progress in June, ahead of the text being taught to a class I was co-teaching, but only a 'bit' in terms of bits & pieces, without ever feeling comfortable as to what the writer, Cao Xueqin, was up to. The tale felt completely 'foreign' to me.

But after being in a few lessons related to it I started to register some sense of what was going on at a narrative level. Oddly enough it was the connections, tentative as they were, with Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu that began to bring The Golden Days to life for me, as I found myself beginning to grasp the playfulness involved and the quality of refined soap opera.

So after 'completing' the text in the classroom I set out on a rereading, but a highly relaxed one, with no real consideration of following details - essentially just superficially following the 'story'. Even then, I hadn't much of a clue as to plot for the first three chapters. But then the magic started. I began to ease myself into the novel - if that's an appropriate term for a work that bears no close resemblance to any novel I've previously encountered. And now, approaching the end of the first volume, I'm loving it, whilst remaining entirely relaxed about the stuff I don't get, which is plenty.

Just to mention one aspect of the text that lends itself to reading for pleasure: most of the characters are basically good-natured and enjoy life and each other in an uncomplicated manner. It reminds me a bit of the best of Thomas Love Peacock, as in Headlong Hall; the feeling of celebrating a life of pleasure in good yet silly company. Yes, there are shadows; but the light shines and it's nice to step into.