Imagine the dance of Magritte

Author: Na Si
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: "Loves flipping through books and watching movies, loves walking and viewing paintings, loves plants and delicious food. Looking back, it seems that all these are reflected in this book. Even if it's not, it's still a headless and blind joy." Since the 1990s, Na Si has been living in the United States, observing various cultural landscapes of America while working in New York. Starting in 1996, she began writing the column "New York Postcards" for The Three Weekly Life magazine, describing "cultural events" in the United States in a relatively light tone. These so-called "cultural events" are actually very ordinary—so ordinary that they include watching movies, attending theater performances, watching sports competitions, visiting art exhibitions, browsing bookstores, and spending time in libraries. In 2003, her column articles were compiled into East and West, covering topics such as media, music, food, and books—still those seemingly light "cultural events." The Imaginary Dance of Magritte is her third book, continuing her writing style—spontaneous and free-spirited. Without any cultural burden or concern for cultural authority, she rarely thinks deeply and often keeps her notes casual. The articles in this collection were published in various publications such as Beijing News "Everyone," , , and Book City, with diverse themes ranging from Nordic architecture and the artist Magritte to yesterday's movies and the flowers and plants before her eyes. They are categorized under "Reading on Travel and Journeys," "Film Notes," "Visual Notes," and "Gardens in Memory and Imagination." For someone who writes essays frequently, travel and reading are undoubtedly the easiest sources of inspiration. Na Si's reading is insightful and selective. In the article Delicious—Sex, Adventure, Passion?, she finds more than just the taste of deliciousness in the book Kitchen Secrets. She believes that the author, Burton, is not merely expressing deliciousness but also how to inspire a certain attitude toward life. "Film Notes" and "Visual Notes" are the highlights of Na Si's book and her main focus on "cultural events." Among them, the most worth reading is Eating in the Cinema. This series of texts provides a comprehensive review of movies related to food. The menus are dazzling, rich in flavor, and just the names alone make one crave them. From food to romance, from the East to the West, from being stuffed to starving, almost all the worldly scenes of our vast world are included here. The richness and contradictions within are far too complex to be summarized by simple tastes.