The Secret of Time
is Taiwanese blogger Sunflower's first collection of literary essays. Written during February and August 2010, these are her comments on all aspects of Chinese and Western literature and arts. These writings stand the test of time because their subjects do.
The 40 essays collected in
are divided into five sections. Apart from art and literary criticism, Sunflower also reflects on her work as a freelancing writer and translator and introduces all kinds of interesting English vocabularies and concepts to Chinese readers. Particularly worth noting is Sunflower's insistence on citing the original English titles and texts whenever a piece of Western art or literature is discussed in Chinese. It solves the common problem that any one English word or phrase may have multiple Chinese representations as interpreted by different translators.
But the most outstanding feature of
is how Sunflower's imagination takes flight. She specialises in connecting several seemingly irrelavent ideas, views, techniques and/or trends and coming up with the most fascinating observation on Chinese and Western arts and literature. Such observation is seductive, as it conveys a sense of ecstasy that entices readers to also dive into the world of arts and literature and enjoy the flow. No wonder Sunflower has dedicated
to those who have dreams -- only dreamers can make a great leap across te man-made chasm that is called reality.