Learning to Speak, Part Seven

VII.

     A partial list of words defined in Xiaolu Guo's novel-as-dictionary might suggest, all by itself, a story, or stories: alien; hostel; Vegetarian Platter; fog; beginner; pronoun; homesick; misunderstand; fertilize; instruction; pub; cabbage; privacy; intimate; free world; heaven; romance; migraine; self; possess; departure.

     Reading such a list of words, would you be able to infer or to invent the story or stories that might emerge from the words, perhaps? The heroine's story, for instance? Any? Even your own, derived imaginatively?

     You should be able to. So should I.

     But if the answer is no, as seems possible, then let's think again: What are the "passive" reader's innate limits? What are the chosen limits of the critic? Why do we so often fall upon the...