Cross-eyed and looking straight.

Author: Ge Hongbing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: There's a joke in the literary world that if you can't write poetry, you can write novels; if you can't write novels, you can write essays; if you can't write essays, you can engage in theory; if you can't handle theory, you can do criticism; and if you can't do criticism, you're basically done for—it's like a football match where if you can't play in the Jia A league, you go to the Jia B league. This joke contains an outdated notion of genre hierarchy. Where there's hierarchy, there's power struggle, and every genre tries to occupy the central position. The history of the evolution of ancient Chinese literary genres actually hides a history of discourse power struggles. The main contents of this book include: The Call for Genre Independence in the Era; Human Portraits; Have the Chinese Lost Their Imagination?; Do the Chinese Only Know How to Hate?; Where Is the Humanistic Spirit of the Chinese?; Why Can't the Chinese Be Happy?; Who Is China's "Blade Edge"?; Why Do Humans Need Literature?; How Do the Chinese Love and How Do They Not Love?; Two Kinds of Humans; Why Should We Be Vigilant Towards Contemporary Art?; On "Permanent Peace"; On Mediocrity; The Ostrich Will Always Be Humanity's Enemy; The History of Female Madness; On Star Worship; Is Hard Work a Virtue?; Two Kinds of Humans—Women and Men; Grief and Anger Are Illnesses; Grief and Anger Are Illnesses; The Chronic Illness of Group-Centered Culture; Whose "Petty Bourgeoisie"? Etc.