The Excessive Use Of Classical Phrases

Literary Allusion in Dream of the Red Chamber

The Excessive Use Of Classical Phrases

Yesterday’s translation post was pretty hard. There were a ton of different idioms and classical allusions in that post, and it took me a lot longer to complete than I’d like to admit.

It reminded me of this passage from way back in chapter 1:

更可厭者，『之乎者也』，非理即文，大不近情，自相矛盾。

And even worse is their excessive use of classical phrases, which are overly moralistic, overly literary, are completely detached from human emotions, and are often self-contradictory.