I know that “BTS” probably makes people think of the hugely popular Korean musical group Built to Spill (“There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” and “Perfect From Now On” are great albums, btw {which is probably the name of another Korean pop group}). But in this case, I mean “behind the scenes.” I’ve been working on Pavilion for almost twenty years (seventeen?). And by “working on,” I don’t just mean “writing.” I took three years of Chinese (Mandarin for the spoken stuff, but the written language is the same across dialects) for no other reason than that I wanted to be able to write this book. I chose a European narrator so I’d have an excuse for when he got things wrong: It was him, not me! But then I had to come up with his background, so I had to read all about the Jesuits of that time (which is how I discovered “The Memory Palace of Mateo Ricci,” by Jonathan Spence, which became a central reference for this novel). I also bought and watched several “wuxia” films from the 1920’s through the current era. And I read all I could. The Outlaws of the Marsh is a standout, the Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling are phenomenal, and classics like The Three Kingdoms are of course essential. But also, in the 20th Century, Jin Yong and Gu Long (distant cousin) stand out. More on all of this later. Anyway, thanks for reading. I’ve spent maybe two-fifths of my life on this, and though maybe some of what I’ve written since may be better, this one has endured as the book that I most want to finish.
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