Status Updates From The Changelings: A Classica...

I have been surprised about how much I am enjoying this monogatari. Willig has well managed the pronouns and identification of the two siblings through the various changes in the tale.

“Yet a passionate action like that in Chūnagon’s mansion would be bad. What shall I do?”
How about, Saishō, you DON’T assault this woman and go back to taking care of the first two lives you ruined #allssishosarebastards

“[Saishō] felt sorry for Chūnagon and thought things ought not to be this way”
Well if you didn’t r—- your best friend’s wife and then your best friend, then pretend you loved them, maybe you wouldn’t be in this “mess”
#AllSaishōsAreBastards

He’s been guilted into carrying his assaulter’s child (his best friend), and while the ‘friend’ constantly misgenders him, the translation itself does not. He has no will to “live as a woman” but the baby, changes his guilt levels.
Though trans masc experience, wow is it emotional.

Well the author is really trying to make Chūnagon the new Genji and even called him a “shining light” and everyone weeping when he is gone

Man has to hide away with his assaulter and pretend to be a woman while he is pregnant but he is absolutely dysphoric about it and wants to quit the world
Is not something one would expect from a 900 year old book

“Chūnagon began to feel constrained by his pregnant condition…” 🫃

Saishō is a pos and I wish the story didn’t focus on him and his assaults—- Chūnagon you need a better friend

Ok the crossed genders are beautifully worked and Willig's translation convention to use their presenting pronouns is quite beneficial.

But I knew that SA was be coming and still some is and though it was .. 'appropriate' for the time of writing, it is still extremely unsettling, more than even in Genji. Especially since the entire act itself was skipped (also accurate to the time of writing)

My hunt for this book is finally over and i'm about to become so annoying about it forever let's do this