In this episode, Kassia and Dylan discuss the Japanese novel Tun-huang written by Yasushi Inoue and translated by Jean Oda Moy. This work of historical fiction imagines how a trove of early Buddhist sutras came to be hidden in caves along the Silk Road for centuries. We talk about the book’s criticism of education, bureaucracy, and materialism, as well as the significance of freedom, preservation, and translation.
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In this episode, Matt Tannenbaum, proprietor of Lenox, Massachusetts' The Bookstore and focus of the documentary Hello, Bookstore, joins us to discuss The Book...
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Chinese translator Canaan Morse returns to explain how Eliot Weinberger's critical (and often cutting) analysis can help us see classical writing in new ways....