After a summer break, although a few core members were either busy with work or away overseas, the reading group still had to keep going. With some new additions, the first session still had seven people taking part. The venue was my newly tidied-up (not really) turnover apartment.
This semester we’re reading Foucault’s The Order of Things. I had originally considered reading Phenomenology of Spirit, but since the mainstays of the reading group have thinned out, it just felt like we wouldn’t be able to chew through it. By chance I heard that Jin Shixiang was also leading his students in reading The Order of Things, and I thought this book was actually quite suitable—why not read it too? It’s difficult enough to gnaw on, but not so hard as something like Phenomenology of Spirit. And if we skip around a bit, with the appropriate amount of absence, that works too. It’s fairly well suited to our current team, which is relatively in a stage of transition.
The format of the reading group remains the usual one: taking turns reading aloud, and after every one or two paragraphs we stop to comment and discuss. We read closely paragraph by paragraph, but without nitpicking over individual words—taking in the general idea, pursuing overall inspiration and understanding. Today we read for about an hour and a half, and only got through the preface.
Since it happened to coincide with the National Day holiday, in addition to starting the reading session we also held a little gathering and celebration. Although the style of our reading group is that feasting and socializing are its daily routine, today was especially lively. Two Three girls plus one strong back went to Walmart at 1 p.m. to buy ingredients, and after we finished reading in the afternoon, we all rolled up our sleeves and put together a lavish hotpot feast (as shown).
After finishing the hotpot, while cleaning up the aftermath, a few classmates moved on to a brief “video game” segment, using the red-and-white console I had specially bought. They each played a bit of Contra, Adventure Island, Tank Battle, and so on. These old games really are very replayable. Of course, if there’s a chance in the future, I may equip the place with a high-end game console or even VR, but in fact a reading group of seven or eight people isn’t really suitable for projects that only one or two people can play, so we just squeeze in a couple of rounds whenever there’s an opening.
Finally came the kind of game best suited to larger gatherings: board games. We only had time for one round of Avalon, but the result was good, and the students who were new to it performed well too.
The reading group will probably continue at a frequency of once a week, but the exact time will still be adjusted according to the situation of the main participants. Under normal circumstances it won’t always be this full of activities, but at the very least we’ll order takeout and have a meal after reading. Dining together is mainly split equally, though sometimes I’ll treat everyone. Other classmates are always welcome to apply to join. The way to join is simple: just find one of the existing veteran members of the reading group and come along with them—that’s all. First time a stranger, second time a familiar face.
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
Leave a Reply