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Zhang Longxi. Mighty Opposites: From Dichotomies to Differences in the Comparative Study of China. Stanford, Ca. Stanford University Press. 1998. ix + 248 pages. $49.50 ($19.95 paper). ISBN 0-8047-3259-0 (3471-2 paper).
Zhang Longxi's second book in English, Mighty Opposites, falls squarely within the academic mold of cultural studies in its copious references to postmodernism, deconstruction, Said's "orientalism," and Foucault. Five out of the six chapters in this lightly edited collection are reprints of Zhang's articles from the 1980s and 1990s; the sixth chapter contains some new material alongside lengthy passages directly translated from Zhang's Chinese-language writings in the Hong Kong.journal Twentyfirst Century. The endnotes, index, and new material in the introduction enhance the value of Mighty Opposites; conversely, the book's lack of either a bibliography or a Chinese-character glossary reduces its usefulness to scholars in literary criticism and Chinese studies.
To his credit, Zhang writes much more clearly and less deferentially about cultural-studies superstars than is the norm for tracts in his field. For instance, he reminds readers that...