Modern Literature: Lu Xun

1. Modern Literature: Lu Xun

2. Outline • I. Modern Literature: an Introduction • II. Lu Xun/ Zhou Shuren • II.1 ‘Diary of a Madman/ Kuangren reji’ • II.2 ‘The True Story of Ah Q’ • II.3 ‘Medicine’

3. I. Modern Literature: an Introduction • Modern Chinese literature began in 1919, the year of the May Fourth Movement五四運動(wusi yundong). • The May Fourth movement was the 1st great nationwideprotest in history. • It was staged by students of Chinese university & secondary school to protest against the concessions in China awarded by the Treaty of Versailles to foreign powers.

4. Modern Literature: an Introduction • Countless new periodicals were hastily published. • And because scholars & students hoped to arouse support among the masses, their publications were practically all in modern Chinese (baihua白話),which is far more easier to understand than classical Chinese, wenyan文言. • Within a short time baihua came into general use for all purposes.

5. Modern Literature: an Introduction • In early 1920s the Ministry of Education passed decisions leading to general replacement of wenyan by baihua as the language, even in the field of Chinese language and literature. • The switch from classical to modern Chinese was only one aspect of the Literary Revolution. • No less fundamental was the new literature’s fundamental opposition to Confucian morality and the traditional social order.

6. Modern Literature: an Introduction • From the start the new literature reflected its author’s fervent desire to haste the coming of a new, modern, powerful China. • Not surprisingly, these writers looked to Western literature as a source of relevant themes, ideas, and artistic techniques.

7. II. Lu Xun魯迅/ Zhou Shuren周樹人 (1881-1936) • Lu Xun’s father was plagued by ill health, and the family suffered from increasing poverty. • His childhood experiences in this milieu provided the material for many of his stories. • After several years of study in Nanjing, he stayed in Japan on a government scholarship from 1902-1909. • After preparatory studies in Tokyo, he studied medicine at Sendai for almost 2 years, only to conclude that it was more important to heal the minds than the bodies of his fellow Chinese.

8. The Life of Lu Xun • Returning to Tokyo, he joined his brother Zhou Zuoren周作人(also one of China’s most prominent essayists) in literary activities. • Besides essays, the first results included a collection of East European short stories which the brothers translated from German into wenyan, classical Chinese.

9. The Life of Lu Xun • After returning to China, Lu Xun (at the recommendation of the dynamic minister of education Cai Yuanpei蔡元) was employed by the Ministry of Education, with which he continued to be associated until 1925. • He later combined his bureaucratic work with teaching at Peking University and elsewhere. • One of the lasting result was his well-received book “A Concise History of Chinese Fiction中國小說簡史.”

10. II.1 Lu Xun: “Kuangren reji” / Diary of a Madman • Lu Xun wrote his first baihua short story in April 1918 as “Kuangren reji” (Diary of a Madman狂人日記). • Though both the title and the form of the story were borrowed from Gogal, the content was original. • The diarist is the only character in the story who consciously recognizes he is living in a society in which people are trying to kill, even to eat each other.

11. Lu Xun: “Kuangren reji” / Diary of a Madman • In this society ethics is no more than a façade maintained to justify the existing situation. • “Kuangren reji” is a merciless expose of the lovelessness and injustice in Chinese society. • The story was an immediate success.

12. The Writing Style of Lu Xun • Most of his stories are rather short and are based on the author’s personal experiences during his childhood and in the first few years after the 1911 Revolution. • Not surprisingly, many are written in the first person. • His style is remarkably concise and shows the strong influence of wenyan.

13. The Writing Style of Lu Xun • The characters in his stories are often no more than summarily described. • They are often stereotyped: the traditional-style intellectual as hypocritical defender of the status or as victim of the examination system, the half-braked modern intellectual, the woman as a victim of traditional morality etc.

14. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q阿Q正傳” • A special place in Lu Xun’s stories is occupied by the long, episodic novella A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q,” which dates from 1922. • Ah Q is a poor, unattached labor of a small village. • His outstanding trait is his ability to interpret every defeat, every humiliation, as apsychological victory while in fact failing utterly as a fighter, lover, thief, and revolutionary.

15. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 1: Introduction— • Background of Ah Q (no proper name, origin) • Ah Q claimed to be of the same surname of Master Chiu, and he was beaten by the Master.

16. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 2: His Victories • He did not have a home/family, but stayed in the village-Temple. He looked down on people, e.g. he thought that the villagers did not know about the ritual of frying a fish in the city. For instance, when he was defeated in a fight, he said to himself, “It is the son whom hurt the father.” • However, he sometimes said what he had in his mind. The village people knew his trick (psychological thought) and forced him to admit that he was a bug. Anyway he was still “No 1” !

17. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 3: His Victories • He got a name after he was beaten by Master Chiu, for anything related to Master Chiu would be honored by the villagers. • He lost his fight with Wang Wu (Ah Q’s 1st shame). • He said unrespectable words to Master Chiu’s son and was beaten (Ah Q’s 2nd shame).

18. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 3: But he regained his happiness when he was near the wine-bar. • He met a nun and he caressed her bold head. • She was ashamed and Ah-Q and the group were delighted.

19. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 4: The Tragedy of Love • He was fascinated by the touch of the little nun. “Every nun has an affair with a monk; a female who walk outside wants to seduce a man; a man and a woman talking, they have an affair.” • One day, he was hired to work in Master Chiu’s place and Amah Wu, a widow, began a conversation with him. Ah-Q suddenly kneeled down and said, “Sleep with me!”

20. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 4: The Tragedy of Love • Amah Wu ran away and ended up crying to her Master. • Ah-Q was beaten By Master Chiu’s son and Master Chiu. He ran away from the house. He left his upper clothes in Master Chiu’s place.

21. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 4: • Ah-Q’s punishment: • 1. To show his apologizes to Chiu’s house with a pair of one-catty red candle and a package of incense. • 2. Ah-Q had to pay for the fee for Daoistic activities. • 3. Ah-Q was not allowed to step in the house. • 4. It was Ah-Q’s responsibility if Amah Wu had anything wrong. • 5. No income and no clothing would be returned. • Ah-Q had no money but he pawned his quilt. He used all the money left for a drink.

22. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 5: The Problem of Livelihood • After the incident of Amah Wu, he found that all female in the village ran away from him. • No family wanted him to be a helper. They hired someone named Young-D instead. • A few days later, Ah-Q met Young-D. Ah-Q glanced at him and Young D, like Ah-Q named himself as a bug. This made Ah-Q really angry: he grabbed Young D’s quene and Young-D grabbed Ah-Q’ s quene; their free hand was used to protect their quenes.

23. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 5: • They remained motionless for half an hour. • Later, they released their hands and dismissed into the crowd. • One day, it was almost summer. Ah-Q had no asset but that was acceptable, only that he was really hungry. • He looked for food in the village, eventually stole 4 turnips from the nun’s place.

24. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 6: From Moderation to the End • When the villagers saw Ah-Q again, he was after Mid-Autumn festival. • When he went to the wine-bar, he had money and new clothes. • He told people that he went to the city and he had some “modern” dresses for sale. • He criticized certain practices in the city and claimed that he saw the beheaded of certain revolutionists.

25. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 6: • Some decided to find out Ah-Q’s experiences in the city. • He joined a gang of robbers but he was a small potato. He was only standing outside the house and received the bags from inside. Soon, it was noisy and Ah-Q ran away with the bag. He was too afraid to do the same thing again and came back to the village.

26. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 7: Revolution • 4th November, 1911: they said that revolutionists came into the village. • Ah-Q felt that it seemed everyone was afraid of the revolutionists and he shouted aloud, “To revolt…” By doing so, he gained some respect from the villagers. • He decided to go to the nun’s place and “revolt” but found out that the “other revolutionists” had already went there and took the valuable items away.

27. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 8: No Revolt was Allowed • The villagers heard that even after the revolutionists came, everything was normal. • But people began to put up their quenes on top of their head. Ah-Q used a chopstick to put up his quene, so was Young-D.

28. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 8: • Ah-Q soon realized that it was not enough to claim oneself as a revolutionist in mind. He had to know some revolutionists. He went to see one but was kicked out. He was not allowed to join or even claim to be a revolutionist. • Master Chiu’s house was robbed.

29. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • Section 9: Cheering from the Sidelines/ Happy Ending • Four days later, Ah-Q was captured. • He was asked about the robbery of master Chiu’s place. • Ah-Q tried to explain that he was rejected by the revolutionists, yet his unclear words were taken as his admittance of the robbery. • Then, he was asked to sign on a paper, Ah-Q could not write and he was asked to draw a circle on the paper. His only focus was trying to draw a round circle, without thinking of the consequences. • On the next day, Ah Q was condemned and executed.

30. Lu Xun: A Gui zhengzhuan/ “The True Story of Ah Q” • The story represents Lu Xun’s contempt for the widespread attitude of refusing to realize the seriousness of China’s situation and escaping into hollow dreams of past and future glory.

31. Analysis: theme in “The True Story of Ah Q” • It is the most famous story in modern Chinese literature. • Full of humor, for Lu Xun’s original plan was to write a humorous story on the newspaper. He later changed his mind and gave a tragic ending to Ah-Q. • Such an ending was not really in harmony with the rest but Lu Xun did not bother to amend the content.

32. Analysis: theme in “The True Story of Ah Q” • The importance of “The True Story of Ah Q”: Chinese readers finds similarities between Ah-Q and China at that time. • Ah-Q was weaker/poorer than most of the villagers. He could only live in his fantasy/dreams. • China was invaded by other countries and she could only be proud of herself in her fantasy.

33. Analysis: theme in “The True Story of Ah Q” • The final death of Ah-Q: due to the fact that he claimed himself as a revolutionist. • When he was rejected by the villagers, he went into the city and ganged with robbers. He heard about the rumor of revolutionists. • After he went back to the village, he claimed to be a revolutionist because he wanted to show off, and because he sensed the villagers were afraid of the revolutionists. He could then gain power and respect.

34. Analysis: theme in “The True Story of Ah Q” • However, when the real revolutionists came, they joined hand in hand with the powerful villagers and unjustly condemned Ah-Q of being the robbers of Master Chiu’s house. • Ah-Q was helpless and he wanted to rely on the revolutionists; yet they put him to death.

35. Analysis: theme in “The True Story of Ah Q” • Lu Xun compared the death of Ah-Q and the 1911 revolution in China. • He pointed out that such a revolution did not bring anything to the common people.

36. Analysis of Names: Ah Q • Why named “Ah Q”? Lu Xun at first wanted to want a common Chinese name (阿桂), then he decided in using an English letter (he was the first one in Chinese culture to name his novel-character in English). The translation of the original Chinese name was Ah K, but Lu thought that the letter of Q did resemble the Chinese quenes.

37. Analysis of Names • Other characters: except one, they were not given full names, but rather using names reflecting the social status or character. • E.g. Master Chin (錢, which means also money in Chinese), Young Nun, … • By doing so, the readers immediately know the background of the characters from their names.

38. Analysis of the Chapters • Chapter 1-3: in a horizontal way; not for the development of the story, but provide a lot of background & information on Ah Q. • Chapter 4-9: in a vertical form of a story, in chronological order.

39. Analysis of the Main Character: Ah Q • Background: no family, in poverty, of low status • Personality: diligent, kind, honest, simple • After the publication of the story, the term, “Ah Q,” becomes well-known and frequently used. E.g. John has the spirit of Ah Q. • The characteristic of “Ah Q” is universal in human, only a lot of Chinese at that time shared that kind of quality.

40. Analysis of the Main Character: Ah Q • 1.Psychological victory • E.g. gambling: Ah Q won but his money was lost in the chaos. He imagined his face as those who took his money, and hit himself. • E.g. When people laughed at his disease on his head, he was so proud that he had such kind of special, unusual “disease.” • E.g. When he knew that the city people named a kind of seat different from that of his villagers, he decided that the city people were wrong. When he found out that the villagers fried fish different from that of the city people, he concluded that the villagers were wrong. • Only his views were correct!

41. Analysis of the Main Character: Ah Q • 2.Foolish & Illogical • E.g. Fear of the powerful such as Master ChingHe was ashamed when he found out that he had less flea than Wang Wu. • E.g. Though Ah Q claimed to be a revolutionist, he did not understand what revolution meant. He claimed so, as he wanted advantages and respect of others. • 3. Weak and Obedient • E.g. After he insulted Amah Wu, he was punished. He accepted the punishment and did not make use of his psychological victory. At the trial, he automatically knelt down.

42. Analysis of the Main Character: Ah Q • 4. Take Advantage of the Weaker • He knew that the nuns were even weaker than himself, and he took advantage of them. • 5. Cannot Foresee Consequences • People were curious of what he did in the city and Ah Q told them honestly that he was only a small potato in the theft. • Being charged as a revolutionist, when he was asked for the reason of getting into jail, he proudly declared that “I want to revolt.” • 6. Forgetful, so as to relief the suppression • He easily & quickly forgot his previous troubles, such as after he insulted Amah Wu. He asked others why the woman was crying.

43. Analysis of the Main Character: Ah Q • 7. Diligent • Before the incident of Amah Wu, people were willing to employ him as a temporary helper. • 8. Of no Moral Value • He was not ashamed of being a thief, but proud of being one.

44. Analysis of the Phrase: “Ah Q was asleep.” • This phrase appears 5 times. • 1. ch.2. When the villagers found out Ah Q’s psychological thought (It’s the son who hit the father), they hit him and forced him to admit that he was merely an “insect.” Yet Ah Q again, underwent psychological victory: still the No.1, and went into asleep. • 2. ch. 2. Ah Q once won a lot of money in gambling but his money was lost in chaos. He hit himself “as if” he hit the thief. Then he was asleep.

45. Analysis of the Phrase: “Ah Q was asleep.” • 3. After Ah Q was heavily beaten as he insulted Amah Wu, he went back to the temple. And he slept till the other day. • 4. When he claimed to be revolutionist and dreamt of having all the advantages, he fell into asleep very soon. • 5. After the trial and drew a circle to admit as a revolutionist, Ah Q did not know the danger and sleep well.

46. Analysis of the Phrase: “Ah Q was asleep.” • Ah Q fell into asleep when he was: in trouble, in danger, in excitement… • Reflecting Ah Q : foolish, stupid, simple.

47. Analysis: Titles of 9 Chapters • 1. Introduction • 2, 3 His Victories • 4. The Tragedy of Love • 5. The Problem of Livelihood • 6. From Moderation to End • 7. Revolution • 8. No Revolution was Allowed • 9. A Happy Ending

48. Analysis: Titles of 9 Chapters • Ch. 2,3. His Victories, what kind of victories are they? • Ch.7,8. What does Ah Q knows about revolution/being a revolutionist? • Ch.9. Should be a Tragic Ending instead?

49. Lu Xun: “Medicine” • Section 1: • Autumn time, early morning. • Big-bolt (Little-bolt’s dad) was going to the beheaded area to buy something for his son, who kept on coughing. • The street was quiet except in the T-shape intersection. People were crowded there to watch the execution. • Big-bolt bought a bright red mantou饅頭(steam bread bun) from a man. • He ran home with hope.

50. Lu Xun: “Medicine” • Section 2: • Old-bolt went back to his store and found his son eating. Little bolt was very thin. • Mother-hua wrapped the red mantou with a locus leaf and put it into a stove. The teashop is permeated with a strange aroma. • A customer came to the teashop. • Mother-hua took the now blackened mantou to a room and asked Little-bolt to eat it. “It will make you well.”