■ Red Dust was started 1961 with the purpose of "publishing work thought to be unpublishable because of length, form or content." (Brief talk about Red Dust in 1987)

■ Red Dust's specialty is non linear work...
"All the elements of the text are always present." Claude Simon (see BLATT interview)

 

■ The story of the stone The Stone that was rejected for the repair of the Dome of Heaven was sighing over its fate when a Buddhist Monk and a Taoist priest sat down beside it. At first they talked of Immortal Life but then their topic changed and they began to talk of the good things of life in the Red Dust. This stirred the earthly strain in the Stone. It addressed them: “I should like very much to taste of the pleasures of the Red Dust” The Buddhist monk said: “Very well we shall take you for a turn in the Red Dust, if you insist, but don’t blame us if you do not find it to your liking” “Of course not, of course not” the Stone assured them eagerly…

Condensed with the permission of Chi Chen Wang from the first two pages of his translation of Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh Ch’in