Moving towards chaos

Author: Cong Wei Xi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: With unadorned brushwork, the author records his more than two decades of hardships. In fact, the word "hardship" cannot carry the weight of these two decades of vicissitudes. The two suicide attempts by his wife, Zhang Hu, the persecution and forced return of his mother, and his son being innocently slapped by others have trampled upon the sacred family bonds in the author's heart. The nakedness of the soul and body under the scorching sun, rebirth in the flames of the chemical plant, and the toil of sweating in the mine have subjected the author's body to immense suffering. What is tragic is that the cruel reality has crushed the romantic sentiments and literary dreams surging within the author's heart. The sorrow, bitterness, and despair in this constitute a tragic symphony in the history of the souls of Chinese intellectuals. The author also uses his personal experiences as the main thread to record the inner journeys and life trajectories of intellectuals of his generation and similar fate, from the death of the aesthetic giant Lü Ying to the drowning of the bookish Zhang Zanzu; from Jian Yuan Jun with a "wind-tear eye" to the "muscle weakness" suffering from a terminal illness; from the life legend of Ying to the dust of the journey of Jiang Baocen. What is precious is that the author does not embellish the intellectuals (including himself) in the book but instead uses profound self-reflection to recreate the weaknesses and life imperfections of intellectuals. Tragic farces of and mutual persecution are played out among intellectuals at a higher level, leaving people not only shocked but also feeling an bone-chilling sense of desolation. It can be said that this self-examination of the souls of intellectuals is vast, grand, profound, a sign of civilization and evolution, and more importantly, a rebirth.