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forestofgloryWelcome to the first post of our read a long of The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China by Dorothy Ko! For this post we are reading the introduction.
Since this the introduction to the book, I thought it might be nice for us to introduce ourselves, so here are some optional discussion questions:
1. What do you hope to get out of reading this book? What do you hope to get out of the read a long format?
2. What is your experience reading academic history books? (No experience necessary of course, but it's helpful for me to know for planning purposes)
3. What is your experience using an inkstone or writing languages that historically where written with inkstones?
4. In the introduction what did you find interesting and/or exciting?
Since this the introduction to the book, I thought it might be nice for us to introduce ourselves, so here are some optional discussion questions:
1. What do you hope to get out of reading this book? What do you hope to get out of the read a long format?
2. What is your experience reading academic history books? (No experience necessary of course, but it's helpful for me to know for planning purposes)
3. What is your experience using an inkstone or writing languages that historically where written with inkstones?
4. In the introduction what did you find interesting and/or exciting?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-18 02:50 am (UTC)Thanks for hosting this!! One sorta-chapter in and I'm already intrigued!
1. What do you hope to get out of reading this book? What do you hope to get out of the read a long format?
I would just like to know more about inkstones! Not to be boring. I just instinctively think writing implements etc. are cool (I also think fountain pens are cool even though I only have one)-- inkstones are similarly cool, plus they can be really beautiful. I also similarly really like learning about historical writing and things like that. Re: the format, I do like that that gives me a sense that I'm gaining more thorough knowledge on a subject. Also I feel like it's good for my brain!
2. What is your experience reading academic history books? (No experience necessary of course, but it's helpful for me to know for planning purposes)
I don't have a lot... I'm not sure if I've read an entire academic history book cover-to-cover before. I've read sections of such books before though (for a bunch of random subjects).
3. What is your experience using an inkstone or writing languages that historically where written with inkstones?
I've never actually used an inkstone before, although I'm sure I've seen them used before at least. My mom has calligraphy supplies (including an inkstone!) and might get back into it, so maybe I'll get to have a go at it in the near future? :D
I was forced to go to Chinese School as a child and have intermittently practiced my writing with a pen since then. So I theoretically have Lifelong experience writing Chinese, but I don't regularly write in it so my handwriting is what you'd expect (aka, not very good). I also am not close to fluent in Chinese which makes it harder.
I've gone to one (1) Real calligraphy class which was surprisingly hard lmao. It's totally different from writing with a pen. In the end I succeeded at writing a pretty good δΈ€ though!
4. In the introduction what did you find interesting and/or exciting?
VERY excited about the protagonist craftswoman that was teased in the intro! I was a little disappointed before that since the author pretty quickly mentions how male-centric inkstone culture was, so the fact that one of the biggest names was a woman was a very pleasant surprise. I really like learning about women in history and will be happy if we get some insight on gender dynamics re: writing specifically in this book, and it seems like we will!
Also interesting is the perspective on "scholars" which the author goes into detail on. She clearly has a lot of opinions about trends in how modern historians approach Chinese history-- how they, as historians, identify more with "scholars" which impacts the kind of works that get produced about Chinese history. Meanwhile I have no idea about these trends at all, and of course that kind of insight would have never crossed my mind. It looks like we're going to get more information on all that which I'm looking forward to.
Relatedly, I'm interested in how the book as a whole seems like it will be very focused on the physicality of inkstones and the environments in which they were sourced and crafted. I feel like that make this a more memorable read, plus easier for me personally to mentally place in the real world.
Also relatedly, I'm glad it seems like we're going to get a lot of pictures! :D
no subject
Date: 2022-02-19 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-19 01:03 pm (UTC)Yeah!! (For anyone reading this that can't find the part I was referring to there, it was "In the field of Chinese today, so many scholars have constructed their self-images by identifying with the Song, Ming, or Qing literati that the latter's tastes and values have predominated in research agendas as in methods of study." on page 6... hopefully I didn't misunderstand it!)
It's funny to me because I have really internalized that kind of reasoning for plenty of other things, like gender/race and Western economic classes (like I'm always thinking, "well mostly middle/upper class cishet white men did these studies, so that kind of perspective is going to be assumed in most scholarship I read"), but "scholar" as a social class isn't something I'm used to having to consider. Seems like I'm going to have to get ready for a paradigm shift as we read on...
no subject
Date: 2022-02-20 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-21 12:25 am (UTC)Writting implements are indeed cool.
I know the author has written other books that are more focused on gender so I'm expecting her to be aware of those kinds of issues
I've been thinking about historians identifying with scholars and if that's what I've seen in other things I've read. In some cases it is! But also right now I'm reading a book about women's lives that very much does not do that.
I love the pictures, they where one of the 1st things I noticed when my copy of this book arrived.