[Grammar] Cannot understand usage of present perfect continuous in the sentence

[ProstoDen]

I know that I cannot say like this:


I would love to be living in the 19th century


because this is not a real oppotunity and you can't live in the past. I spoke with my American friend and he suggested this variant:


I would love to have been living in the 19th century


But I don't understand why it is correct. I think that saying "have been living" implies that action have been lasting for some period and finished recently or still continues. But it cannot be with the 19th century because it wasn't recently, it was more than 100 years ago.
Is there any rule or grammar which could clarify the present perfect continuous tense usage in this sentence?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I know that I cannot say like this:

I would love to be living in the 19th century.
Yes, you can. It's fine. There's nothing ungrammatical about with wishing you were living in another time.

because this is not a real oppotunity and you can't live in the past. I spoke with my American friend and he suggested this variant:

I would love to have been living in the 19th century.
That's fine but doesn't mean quite the same thing. If you had been living then, you would be dead now.

But I don't understand why it is correct. I think that saying "have been living" implies that action has been lasting for some period and finished recently or still continues. But it cannot be with the 19th century because it wasn't recently, it was more than 100 years ago.

Is there any rule or grammar which could clarify the present perfect continuous tense usage in this sentence?

No doubt.

Where did you get the sentence? ALWAYS tell us where you got the lines you're asking about. Without the context it's hard to comment.

 

[jutfrank]

I know that I cannot say like this:
I would love to be living in the 19th century

Yes, you can, in the right context.

I would love to have been living in the 19th century
But I don't understand why it is correct. I think that saying "have been living" implies that action have been lasting for some period and finished recently or still continues.

No, that's not true.

Is there any rule or grammar which could clarify the present perfect continuous tense usage in this sentence?

To be honest, I think your friend has confused you even more than you were before. Just forget about his suggestion.

If you tell us exactly what you mean to say, and why you want to say it, we can go from there, and clarify things for you.