In 1657, Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 broke off from his commentary on 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' to list "33 Nice Things" 不亦快哉三十三則.
It's one of the most likable things I know of in any language. I translated it to cheer myself up a while ago, if anyone could use it. https://www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
It's one of the most likable things I know of in any language. I translated it to cheer myself up a while ago, if anyone could use it. https://www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
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https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Premi%C3%A8re_Gorg%C3%A9e_de_bi%C3%A8re_et_autres_plaisirs_minuscules?wprov=sfla1
It is also a lot more fun than grading, though admittedly that’s a long list.
You are about the only exception I make to thinking that rhyming translations are bad, btw (referring to your substack 😊 post today)
Death could scarce be more bitter than that place!
But since it came to good, I will recount
all that I found revealed there by God’s grace.
How I came to it I cannot rightly say,
so drugged and loose with sleep had I become
when I first wandered there from the True Way.
Also Kurt Vonnegut must’ve been a fan, I thought he was the source, and it’s always stuck with me
Considering he didn’t have a traditional literary education, I always admired Vonnegut’s ability to find more obscure thoughts/ideas. A large part of his humanism was from his study of the social sciences
I assume "you love to see it " is not a direct translation? but I love it
a pretty common human experience/ emote
Or that most terribly, terribly British of phrases, "Top notch, wot?"