Straight Talk

Straight Talk is a collection of essays from renowned publisher Pan Kai-xiong's personal column "e;A Third Eye on Literature,"e; which he began writing for Wenhui Daily in 2016. Part of the same series as Frankness, the column comprises one hundred essays. It also serves as a milestone summary of the author's four decades of reading and thematic writing.Straight Talk offers candid commentary on 62 prominent contemporary writers and 63 literary works. Its subjects range from novels like A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, Scroll of Fireworks, and The Literary City to scholarly studies, essay collections, nonfiction, and short stories. The writers covered range from venerable authors like Wang Meng and Feng Jicai, now in their twilight years, to emerging post-80s talents such as Zhang Yimei and Di An. It includes literary giants who have long dominated the scene-Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Sun Ganlu, Wang Anyi, Chi Li, Chi Zijian, Mai Jia-as well as literary "e;newcomers"e; like Du Yanglin, Wang Jie, and Mao Jianjun. By "e;frank and candid,"e; the author means that in recent years, he has demanded of his own reading that he stick closely to the text, meticulously discerning what the writer has explicitly conveyed and what might be "e;subtextual."e; He strives to record his genuine reading impressions as directly as possible, using simple language and straightforward words.