Very Thinking: The Killing Power of Language and Text

Author: Kong Jinghui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: Focuses on the alternative aspects, discusses both within and beyond the books, delves into the connotations or provides detailed explanations, with distinct styles! The same classic works, but with different interpretive perspectives and reading standpoints, all equally brilliant in argumentation! Kong Jinghui's book reviews differ greatly from ordinary book critiques. She doesn't offer overall evaluations of these "classics" but instead zooms in on a single point to expand on it, observing the characters in the books with a tone of "sympathy and understanding." For example, in "Anna Caught by Time," the entire piece interprets the novel's deeper meaning through Anna's love story, emphasizing her unwavering focus on the truly great love between Anna and Vronsky. However, Kong Jinghui remains acutely aware that the great Tolstoy would not tell such a simple love story so straightforwardly. "Old Tolstoy was truly cruel, his heart was truly strong enough to let us see the blooming of love, but it doesn't end there. He forces us to see the withering, decay, and how the flower falls into the mud, trampled by wheels and ragged shoes."
"Very Thinking: The Killing Power of Language and Words" is not a traditional literary critique but seems to carry the tone of ancient Chinese literary theory. However, it embodies the author's feminist perspective, leading to a critique of patriarchal society. Kong Jinghui should be proficient in Western critical theories, but she does not base her writing on them. Instead, she presents her insights from the perspective of a female reader, immersed in the destructive power of language and words within the narrative space, offering a different way to interpret the classics. Whether correct or not, it no longer matters. As the author herself says, "A story written in black and white is always a swamp where we lose ourselves." Perhaps, we should pay more attention to the novelists' obsession with stories, leaving the likes of deeper meanings to heaven to decide.