Heptapods and “Prometheus Bound”

In Ted Chiang’s science-fiction short story The Story of Your Life (adapted into the Denis Villeneuve film Arrival), earthlings are visited by a kind of mysterious extraterrestrial species called “Heptapods”. The protagonist of the story is a linguist trying to decipher the only legible traces of communication between them and humans—messages in a complex, circularly-shaped … Continue reading Heptapods and “Prometheus Bound” →

Herodotus: Royal Transgressions

(First in a series of old response essays I wrote for the General Examination in Classical Literature class in college) According to Herodotus’ account, all Persian kings after Cyrus are characterized, to a greater or lesser extent, by the transgression of their customs. Cambyses’ madness has been well-noted, since he disrespects the nomoi of both the … Continue reading Herodotus: Royal Transgressions →

Chung Tzu’s lover and the Golden Aphrodite

There is a delightful little vignette of life in ancient China in the Confucian classic Shijing 詩經, or Book of Songs: 將仲子兮，無踰我里，無折我樹杞。豈敢愛之？畏我父母。仲可懷也，父母之言，亦可畏也。將仲子兮，無踰我牆，無折我樹桑。豈敢愛之？畏我諸兄。仲可懷也，諸兄之言，亦可畏也。將仲子兮，無踰我園，無折我樹檀。豈敢愛之？畏人之多言。仲可懷也，人之多言，亦可畏也。I beg of you, Chung Tzu,Do not climb into our homestead,Do not break the willows we have planted.Not that I mind about the willows,But I am afraid of my father and mother.Chung Tzu I dearly … Continue reading Chung Tzu’s lover and the Golden Aphrodite →

From Crab-Flowers to Foxconn

Recently, Dolce & Gabbana stirred an enormous controversy on the Chinese internet, for an ad that was widely criticized as racist. I have no intention to join the all-too-predictable crusades and weekly boycotts by zealous patriots inside the Great Firewall, nor do I wish to pass judgment on the luxury brand by asserting an element … Continue reading From Crab-Flowers to Foxconn →

Glaucus and the Shaman of South China (2/3)

The end of Nine Songs, a darkly romantic counterpoint between a plant’s life cycle and the passing of human generations, echoes a famous passage in Iliad 6, where the Trojan hero Glaucus suddenly switches to a poeticizing mode and responds to his Greek opponent Diomedes with a metaphor: οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ … Continue reading Glaucus and the Shaman of South China (2/3) →

Glaucus and the Shaman of South China (1/3)

I was procrastinating in Lamont library when I came across a review article on the BMCR of a recent book with the enticing title The Homeric Epics and the Chinese “Book of Songs”: Foundational Texts Compared, edited by Prof. Fritz-Heiner Mutschler. For a long time, I had been interested in comparing Ancient Chinese and Ancient Greek … Continue reading Glaucus and the Shaman of South China (1/3) →