Sanguo - Books, Culture, Podcasts, and Revolution

WARNING: IF JESUS WERE HERE, HE'D CUT YOU. :P

Last chapter saw a whole lot of debate about whether or not the Southland should go to war against Cao Cao, and now, in Chapter 44, that war draws ever nearer. For Sun Quan has decided to leave the decision in the hands of his Foreign Policy advisor, (and Commander-in-Chief of his armies), Zhou Yu, and now all the officers, civil and military, in Wu know that it is Zhou Yu, rather than Sun Quan, that they must sway to their various conclusions.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms,

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Ploys,

the Qiao Sisters in

Wednesday

Jan202010

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 43

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 3:08PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 43:

Zhuge Liang Disputes With The Southern Scholars;

Lu Su Denounces The Majority Opinion.

Listen:

WARNING: THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'. (WELL, NOT REALLY...THEY NEVER REALLY DO. EVER. BUT SOMETIMES I GUESS IT'S NICE TO BE AN OPTIMIST LIKE BOB DYLAN...)

The true significance of Chapter 43 may be lost on some, I suppose. That is to say that in a novel where the martial valor of many of its heroes overshadows just about everything else, it might be a bit easier to overlook the importance of the parts where there's not really any fighting going on. This, of course, would provide a one-sided experience to the story, unfortunately. What would the obstinacy of Achilles have meant if the reader had not previously read that he and Agamemnon had previously had a quarrel in the command tent about the captured Trojan maiden Briseis? Sometimes, it's the battles fought behind the scenes, with words rather than swords, that take on true significance. This chapter's commentary is about the art of the debate in Ancient China, its applications, and how the situation put forth in this chapter compares with the events of our own day.

Cao Cao's Southern Campaign,

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Thursday

Dec312009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 38

Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 10:06PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 38:

Zhuge Liang Plans For The Three Kingdoms;

Sun Quan Attacks Xiakou To Take Revenge.

Listen:

WARNING! THE SANGUO YANYI AUDIOBOOK IS BACK IN PRODUCTION, BITCHES! (Oh yeah, and something about spoilers, too.)

So it's been pretty much a whole month since I last posted one of these (or, for that matter, anything). I know, right? I'm a lazy one, I am. Wanna see if I've still got it? Download and/or listen to the episode live, and read the commentary to figure that one out, I guess.

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 29

Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 1:29PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 29:

The Little Conqueror Slays Yu Ji;

The Green Eyed Boy Lays Hold On The South Land.

Listen:

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Ahhhhh, Chapter 29. Roughly 15 years into the story, and a lot has happened. The 10 Eunuchs seized power, and were in turn overthrown by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. In the confusion, Dong Zhuo took over the Capitol, and thus gained control of the child-Emperor Liu Xian. Dong Zhuo was overthrown, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao built the two most powerful warlord states in the land. Meanwhile, Liu Bei's been wandering around, escaping bad situations with his skin, and little else, intact. One by one, the warlords of the Late-Han have fallen to their powerful peers, and as the first quarter of the novel draws near its conclusion, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are poised to battle it out for supremacy in the north, and Sun Ce has built a powerful and eminently defensible state in the Southeast...