L.J. Writes

I finished reading The King of the Light in the East as a Work of Epic Poetry by Hwang Sun-gu. It turns out there was a full text of the original epic poem in the back of the book so I took time to read that too. I need a better annotated copy, though, because I counted like four mistakes in transcription and/or translation, some of it really basic stuff like the letter 花 (flower) being used in place of 化 (become). "He turned into a pheasant and flew away" is a strange enough sentence without being rendered as "He flower pheasant and flew away."

( Oh God they were rivals )

Now listening to: I finished the audiobook version of The Queen of Attolia and will be moving on to The King of Attolia once I load the files onto my phone. I enjoy the distinctive fantasy Greek setting and the depth of the characters and drama in this series. Also the narration of the audiobooks by Jeff Woodman really adds to the atmosphere.

Now viewing: Episodes of Star Trek: Discovery with my husband when we sit down to fold the laundry. We're caught up to "Saints of Imperfection" now. Earlier we watched DS9 together this way (rewatch for me) and are both rather nostalgic for that older style of Trek that had a more leisurely narrative and a more ensemble feel, filler episodes and all. Discovery has characters that I care deeply about and raw, emotional storylines, but it's so tightly focused and fast-paced--from narrative to camera shots--that I'm sometimes overwhelmed.

( Mention of kidnap and slavery, ranting about cotton trade and economics. )

Rogan of lb_lee asked:

What drove you to start the Soseono novel?

(See my masterpost for basic historical information about Soseono)

Growing up I've always been fascinated by her; she was one of the few women whose names and lives were known in ancient Korean history, and she was so badass! To the best of my knowledge she's the only person of any gender in Korean history who was recorded as a founder of two kingdoms. When her stepson succeeded to her first kingdom instead of her sons she came south to the Korean peninsula rather than start a civil war, uprooting her entire life at nearly fifty years of age when she had just been widowed for the second time. She died about twenty years later at the age of 66, possibly in a civil war between her two sons that claimed the life of her elder son, making her story one of tragedy as well as triumph. Yet her life was so full and interesting, and she remained a beloved and revered figure; she was one of the three major ancestors worshiped throughout the history of Baekje, something you don't see so much with ancestress figures.

( I want to read about her! ...guess I didn't think that one through )

the-history-girls

There is no such thing as a fully historically accurate movie. How could there be, when there is no one single fully authentic version of history? But each generation (maybe even each person) makes their own demands as to the kind of accuracies they do and do not need- what Simon Schama called selective fastidiousness - and that can change quite dramatically.