Kafka's Pendulum -- The Master Series

Author: Ge Fei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: In the long river of history and culture, numerous great works have accumulated, nourishing future generations. What do successful writers and novelists read? Ge Fei, with the sensitivity of a novelist and the rationality of a professor, guides us to get close to the masters. The dialogue between Ge Fei and classic writers forms the motion of a pendulum. Tolstoy, Flaubert, Kafka, and García Márquez are at one end of the pendulum, while Ge Fei is at the other, where the pendulum begins to swing. The pendulum's movement in the dark reveals the worldly context of a novelist's existence, the difficulties of writing, and the arduous exploration between various identities. The dialogue between Ge Fei and classic writers is also a game of go, a meticulous and profound recapitulation with layers of puzzles. Outsiders see the spectacle, while insiders see the subtleties. When the subtleties lead to the marital bed, we face the soul-searching interrogation of a sudden silence, much like the pendulum's abrupt stillness. — Li Hui
It must be a kind of idol worship that caused the avant-garde novelists to stop writing and switch careers: they consciously lowered their own altitude to pave the way for the masters. Their respect for the masters is consumed in their titles: enlarging the font size of quoted sentences from classic works, thereby obscuring the author's more important duties. Let me explain "paving the way": First, when indoor furniture attempts to mimic mammals in its movements butly imitates crippled, awkward, or what is called one-legged mammals, we must help it maintain a relatively stable and dignified state on the ground. This is when objects with thickness come into play, such as small wooden blocks, coins, folded paper, and books. Paving the way can also refer to a situation where books do not stand upright like those on a bookshelf but are stacked vertically, pressing one another down, like a stack of homework submitted in an elementary school classroom. In such a case, the book at the bottom is, of course, the one that has to "pave the way." The Pendulum of Kafka is certainly of the latter type. The books piled on it are the classic works of the masters mentioned in the book: Anna Karenina.
In the long river of history and culture, numerous great works have accumulated, nourishing future generations. Among the brilliant figures in the contemporary Chinese cultural galaxy, who have been influenced by the thoughts of the sages? What do they see in these classics? This collection of reading notes by the renowned writer Ge Fei reviews the books and authors that left the deepest impression on him, with flashes of rational reflection from a professor of fiction. His commentary on Chinese and foreign classics reflects his reading interests and preferences, allowing readers to understand how to choose books that can change their fate within the limitations of life. He also elaborates on his own experiences and insights into reading, showing us the influence of reading on his creative work. His creations demonstrate his status in the Chinese and international literary arenas.