Cursory Collection

Chen DanqingGuangxi Normal University Press2014

Rating 3.9
Word count
153K words
Chapters
40
Series
Cursory Collection
ISBN
9787549550135

Tags

Literature Essays and Miscellany Quality of LifePersonal MemoryMentor and FriendIntellectualsIndependent IdentityContemporary EssaysLiterary MemoirEssays and SketchesArt Criticism

Summary

Cursory Collection is a collection of essays and miscellaneous writings by Chen Danqing, following his earlier collection The Wasted Collection. It is divided by theme into four sections: Art, Image, Society, and Mu Xin, and includes pieces such as Ten Years Since Returning to China, Cities, Art, Artists, Photography Has No Truth, A Nation's Pride, and Imagining Lu Xun. The Art section discusses his creative work and observations over the ten years since returning, the relationship between cities and artists, opportunities and dilemmas, and recalls teachers and peers such as Wu Guanzhong, Zheng Shengtian, Sun Peicang, and Zhu Naizheng. The Image section discusses the nature of photography, the value of historical photographs, and ways of viewing black-and-white images. The Society section, taking up topics such as national pride, showing off wealth and charity, mass memory, quality of life, and commemorating peasants, continues the author's consistently blunt and outspoken critical stance and repeatedly emphasizes that intellectuals should have independent character. The final section, Mu Xin, gathers the two parts of Guarding and Farewell, the afterword to Literary Memoirs, and Casual Talk on Mu Xin, and carries the greatest emotional weight in the book. Unlike his usual tone of banter and invective, these pieces, recording details from before and after Mu Xin's death, are quiet, restrained, and moving, fully conveying the bond between teacher and student—part mentor, part friend, part father and son. The language throughout is crisp, with argument and narrative interwoven; it can be read as topical essays or as circumstantial evidence about the art world and personal memory. The book runs about 150,000 characters and was published in 2014 by Guangxi Normal University Press under the Imaginist imprint.

Editor's review

这是陈丹青睽违五年才交出的杂文集，也是他笔下少见的“带了生死”的一本。前三个部分仍是熟悉的陈丹青：讲艺术不讲客套，讲摄影拆穿幻觉，讲社会敢把话说透，锋利处不留情面，落笔却又总归回到常识与人的尊严。真正让它区别于《退步集》《荒废集》的，是最后的“木心”一辑——四万余字的悼亡文字，《守护与送别》上下篇一笔一笔写老师临终前的病房、言语与沉默，克制到近乎平静，反而比任何抒情都更重。对读惯了陈丹青式嬉笑怒骂的读者，这里有另一种声调：一个中年之后的学生，如何送走自己最重要的老师。若只想看他“骂得痛快”，未必尽兴；若想看他如何谈艺术、如何谈人、如何谈告别，这本值得放在手边。理想国的排印清朗，篇目按主题分组，也适合随手翻到哪一辑读哪一辑。

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Reading tips

  1. 可按“艺术—影像—社会—木心”的次序读，也可先读末辑，理解全书的情感底色。
  2. 读“木心”一辑前不妨先看《文学回忆录》，再回来看《守护与送别》，会更懂那份克制。
  3. 遇到议论性强的篇目，可以先记下不同意见，通读后再回看，不必急于认同或反驳。
  4. 一天读两三篇为佳，作者语言密度高、情绪也足，一次性读完容易疲劳。

About the publisher

Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986

Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.

Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Art
  3. Ten Years Since Returning to China
  4. Cities, Art, Artists
  5. The Person Hard to Hurt
  6. Opportunities and Dilemmas
  7. Because the Mountain Is There
  8. Eros and Desire
  9. Rage and Ecstasy
  10. Straw Boats and Borrowed Arrows
  11. Xudong and Han Xin
  12. This Is Not a Forgery
  13. Mont Sainte-Victoire
  14. Remembering Mr. Wu Guanzhong
  15. Remembering Teacher Zheng Shengtian
  16. Remembering Mr. Sun Peicang
  17. Remembering Teacher Zhu Naizheng
  18. Image
  19. Photography Has No Truth
  20. Images of Images
  21. History and Photographs
  22. Growing Up, in the Prime of Youth
  23. Photography and Black and White
  24. Kind Looking
  25. Ragged Memories
  26. Society
  27. A Nation's Pride
  28. Why I Did Not Discuss Flaunting Wealth and the Red Cross
  29. Why I Think of the Masses Forty Years Ago
  30. Life and Quality
  31. My Dream Talk
  32. Thought and Strategy
  33. Who Will Commemorate the Peasants
  34. Imagining Lu Xun
  35. Dislocation and Counterpoint
  36. Mu Xin
  37. Guarding and Farewell (Part One)
  38. Guarding and Farewell (Part Two)
  39. Afterword to Literary Memoirs
  40. Casual Talk on Mu Xin

FAQ

《草草集》和《荒废集》是什么关系？ 《草草集》是陈丹青在《荒废集》之后推出的杂文随笔结集，2014年由广西师范大学出版社出版，宣传上常称为他睽违五年的首部散文集，两书篇目并不重复。
这本书里的木心部分写了什么？ 收录《守护与送别》上下篇、《文学回忆录》后记和《漫谈木心》，合计约四万字，主要记录木心临终前后的情形，以及陈丹青与木心多年的师生交往，是全书情感最重的部分。
没读过陈丹青其他书能直接读这本吗？ 可以。全书由独立篇章组成，彼此不依赖前作；不过读过《退步集》《荒废集》，会更熟悉他的语气与关注点，读起来更顺。
《草草集》有电子版吗？ 有，多个正版电子书平台曾上架该书的电子版，字数标注约十五万字，发行日期为2014年1月1日。购买时请核对作者、出版社与ISBN。
这本书适合当艺术评论入门读物吗？ 不完全适合。它的文章多为杂文随笔和人物回忆，观点鲜明但不成体系；若想系统了解艺术史，需要另配专门的艺术史著作。

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About the author

Chen Danqing Author · Chinese · 1953

Chen Danqing, born in Shanghai in 1953 with ancestral roots in Taishan, Guangdong, is an oil painter, writer, and critic of art and literature. In 1980 his graduation work, the Tibetan Paintings series, drew wide attention in the art world. In 1982 he moved to New York and worked as a freelance painter; he returned to China in 2000, joined the faculty of the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, and resigned in 2004. His writings span art and literature, with major works including Literary Memoirs: 1989–1994, the four-volume Mu Xin Lecture Series, Mu Xin on Mu Xin: A Supplement to Literary Memoirs, Zhang Fu and Mu Xin, the Local series, and essay collections such as Collected Regression and Collected Neglect. Centered on painting, literature, and everyday observation, his plainspoken, reflective prose has exerted a lasting influence on art criticism and cultural essays.