Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism
No.2, 2025
“Objects” and “Scenes”: Two Perspectives for Understanding Zhang Chu
(Abstract)
Cao Xia
“Objects” and “scenes” are two crucial narrative perspectives of Zhang Chu. Through the selection and shaping of objects, he employs a dialectical approach in practicing the poetics of “objects,” writing about “weighty matters” with “lightness,” “darkness” with “light,” and “sorrow” with “joy,” creating an connection with the spiritual dilemmas of the protagonists. In his descriptions of “scenes,” Zhang Chu initially focused on natural landscapes, later shifting to urban and rural landscapes. In terms of the construction of scenes, his narrative mode evolved from a “visual” one to a “perceptual” one. That is, through the multi-dimensional interweaving of vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch, he constructed a rich and colorful “sensory world.” The aesthetic style of scenes transformed from clean and bright to “be in harmony with the world.” Overall, from “manipulating objects” to “depicting scenes,” and from portraying inner dilemmas to presenting “a beautiful world,” Zhang Chu has both practiced and accomplished a paradigmatic transformation from “phenomenology of spirit” to “phenomenology of perception.”