"You've got no right to be fussy when someone is being so generous"

October 2, 2020 3:37 PM

Read Paper Republic publishes English translations of Chinese fiction, usually new short stories. The short story "Saint Marie" by Da Si, translated by Caroline Mason, portrays a student's gradual discontentment with a French landlady whose hospitality proves stifling (in a way that goes beyond Ask vs. Guess cultures). "If Marie had made it plain before I moved in that she wanted my company, I would never have chosen to live with her."
posted by brainwane (3 comments total)

Thank you for sharing this - it was a really interesting read, and put into words something I've experienced but never really been able to communicate.

My attention span is so shattered that I haven't finished an actual book in months, so I'm loving all the short fiction that's been showing up on the front page here lately!
posted by Ann Telope at 6:24 PM on October 2, 2020 [2 favorites]

Amazing short story and extremely relatable.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:21 AM on October 3, 2020

It's an interesting story, not least about kind of cultural mismatch of expectations. How many refusals are acceptable? How does one frame a no? What expectations are reasonable for people living together? When must one be insistent and when must one yield? And interestingly, what does one do when you are left, alone, adrift culturally, when no one understands your communication and it's too late to change?
posted by corb at 12:22 PM on October 3, 2020