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Selected Stories
When I was young I, too, had many dreams. Most of them came to be forgotten, but I see nothing in this to regret. For although recalling the past may make you happy, it may sometimes also make you lonely, and there is no point in clinging in spirit to lonely bygone days. However, my trouble is that I cannot forget completely, and these stories have resulted from what I have been unable to erase from my memory. . . .
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Lu Xun
1,106 books394 followersLu Xun (鲁迅) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a novelist, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.
For the Traditional Chinese profile: here.
For the Simplified Chinese profile: 鲁迅
For the Traditional Chinese profile: here.
For the Simplified Chinese profile: 鲁迅
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
February 19, 2022
বিচ্ছিন্নভাবে লু স্যুনের গল্প আগেও পড়া হয়েছে, নির্বাচিত গল্পের বাংলা অনুবাদ দেখে তাই আগ্রহ নিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করলাম। সমস্যার শুরু তখনই, খুব বাজে অনুবাদ হওয়ার কারণে, বইটা শেষ করতে অনেকটা সময় লেগে গেলো। তবে, আনন্দের ব্যাপার হচ্ছে, গল্পগুলো এতো চমৎকার, বাজে অনুবাদেও পড়ে আরাম পাওয়া যায়।
লু স্যুন গল্প বলেন, শূন্যে দাঁড়িয়ে... আরও স্পষ্ট করে বলতে গেলে বলবো, গল্পের মূল ভিত্তি দাঁড়িয়ে থাকে খুব পলকা কোন বিষয়ের উপর, ধরা যাক কোন একটা স্নাপশট নিয়ে কথা বলতে বলতে গল্প শুরু করেছেন গল্পকার, তারপর ঐ স্নাপশট তোলার ইতিহাস আসে, ছবিটা দেখে আশেপাশে মানুষের কী অনুভূতি হয়েছে সেটাও আসে মেটাফোরিক্যালি আর শেষে ছবির পরিণতি উহ্য রেখে লু স্যুন একটা বড় ধাক্কা দেন ফিলোসফিক্যালি। ফলে মোমেন্টারিতে আটকে থাকা গল্পগুলো একটা পূর্ণদৈর্ঘ্য সিনেমার স্বাদ দেয়।
লু স্যুন গল্প বলেন, শূন্যে দাঁড়িয়ে... আরও স্পষ্ট করে বলতে গেলে বলবো, গল্পের মূল ভিত্তি দাঁড়িয়ে থাকে খুব পলকা কোন বিষয়ের উপর, ধরা যাক কোন একটা স্নাপশট নিয়ে কথা বলতে বলতে গল্প শুরু করেছেন গল্পকার, তারপর ঐ স্নাপশট তোলার ইতিহাস আসে, ছবিটা দেখে আশেপাশে মানুষের কী অনুভূতি হয়েছে সেটাও আসে মেটাফোরিক্যালি আর শেষে ছবির পরিণতি উহ্য রেখে লু স্যুন একটা বড় ধাক্কা দেন ফিলোসফিক্যালি। ফলে মোমেন্টারিতে আটকে থাকা গল্পগুলো একটা পূর্ণদৈর্ঘ্য সিনেমার স্বাদ দেয়।
February 22, 2013
Great collection. The last story, "Forging the Swords" was totally amazing.
"A summer night is short."
"At such times even every inch of yearn she spun seemed worthwhile and alive."
"Old Mrs. Ninepounder, who was in a towering temper, whacked the legs of her stool with a tattered plantain fan."
"You know how it was in the time of the Long Hairs: keep your hair and lose your head; keep your head and lose your hair..."
"When Mrs. Sevenpounder heard that it was written down in a book, she really gave up all hope."
"At this point a strange picture suddenly flashed into my mind: a golden moon suspended in a deep blue sky and beneath it the seashore, planted as far as the eye could see with jade-green watermelons..."
"When I was child there was a Mrs. Yang who used to sit nearly all day long in the beancurd shop across the road, and everybody used to call her Beancurd Beauty."
"I only felt that all round me was an invisible high wall, cutting me off from my fellows, and this depressed me thoroughly."
"He would look over the offender, and if it were someone weak in repartee he would curse him, while if it were a poor fighter he would hit him."
"The next day he would go to work with swollen eyes."
"'Are your bones itching?' demanded Whiskers Wang, standing up too and putting on his coat."
"Ah Q would not have been bewitched by her; nor would this have happened if the little nun's face had been covered by a cloth."
"Now though Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns, there are times when "'Discretion is the better part of valor."'
"Mr. Chao did not agree, saying that he might bear a grudge, and that in a business like this it was probably a case of 'the eagle does not prey on its own nest.'"
"He supposed that in this world it was the fate of everybody at some time to be dragged in a and out of prison, and to have to draw circles on paper; it was only because his circle had not been round that he felt there was a stain on his reputation. Presently, however, he regained composure by thinking, 'Only idiots can make perfect circles.' And with this thought he fell asleep."
"Four years before, at the foot of the mountain, he had met a hungry wolf which had followed him at a set distance, wanting to eat him."
"But the night air was so brisk, it went right through me. This seemed to be the first time I had known such good air in Peking."
"The boat seemed like a great white fish carrying a freight of children on its back through the foam."
"If he did scold us we would ask him to return the pine branch he had taken the previous year from the river bank, and call him "Old Scabby" to his face."
"'I am not sure' is a most useful phrase."
"After experiencing many time that things which I hoped would not happen and felt should not happen invariably did happen, I was desperately afraid this would prove another such case."
"So although questions kept rising to the tip of my tongue, I had to bite them back."
"It was really a bolt from the blue."
"saw the glow of the yellow oil lamp as large as a bean."
"That night, although indigestion kept me from sleeping well and I had a series of nightmares, I still wished her a lifetime of happiness, and hoped the world would change for the better for her sake."
"Sometimes she even cried all night, until Chang Fu lost his temper and scolded her, saying she had waited too long to marry and had gone mad."
"Even if a high wall were built round this family, still the air could scarcely be kept separate."
"His head seemed to be bursting as if filled to the brim with sharp faggots."
"Nevertheless he persevered, and pursued his train of thought distractedly"
"...the man is a writer; the woman is also a writer, or else a lover of literature. Or else the woman is a poetess; the man is a lover of poetry, a respecter of womanhood."
"The master's study is apart, its wall lined with bookshelves; there are naturally no cabbages there."
"He must still be studying dead books."
"Before long, the broad leaves of the evergreen which was the only potted plant they had were swallowed up in the darkness, and stars twinkled between white clouds whic looked like torn cotton."
"As a result, probably, of reading Yu Dafu's romantic stories, they constantly referred to themselves as "the young unfortunate" or "the outcast"; and, sprawling on the big chairs like lazy and arrogant crabs, they would sigh, smoke and frown all at the same time."
"The life of one who created loneliness for herself and tasted its bitterness."
"Feeling cheerless, but by no means sad"
"then, somehow, I was out of the gate."
"What did she care about the half pot of face cream or the flattened nose tip?"
"There was the never-ending business of eating everyday."
"As the words left my mouth I could not free myself from the suspicion that there was an unseen urchin behind me maliciously parroting all I said."
"There are many ways open to me, and I must take one of them because I am still living. I don't know, though, how to take the first step. Sometimes the road seem like a great, grey serpent, writhing and darting at me. I wait and wait and watch it approach, but it always disappears suddenly in the darkness."
"'Noodles with crow sauce again! Noodles with crow sauce again! I'd like to know who else eats nothing but noodles with crow sauce from one year to the next? How ill-fated I was to marry you and eat noodles with crow sauce the whole year round!'"
"But on rising after noon the next day the king was in a bad mood again. By the time lunch was over, he was furious. 'I'm bored!' he cried with a great yawn."
"A smile was on its face. Its tangled hair was like faint blue smoke."
"But even as they trembled, they knew a secret joy."
"They retrieved a tangled mass of white hair and black hair, and several spoonfuls of some shorter hair, no doubt from white and black mustaches. Then another skull. Then three hairpins."
"A summer night is short."
"At such times even every inch of yearn she spun seemed worthwhile and alive."
"Old Mrs. Ninepounder, who was in a towering temper, whacked the legs of her stool with a tattered plantain fan."
"You know how it was in the time of the Long Hairs: keep your hair and lose your head; keep your head and lose your hair..."
"When Mrs. Sevenpounder heard that it was written down in a book, she really gave up all hope."
"At this point a strange picture suddenly flashed into my mind: a golden moon suspended in a deep blue sky and beneath it the seashore, planted as far as the eye could see with jade-green watermelons..."
"When I was child there was a Mrs. Yang who used to sit nearly all day long in the beancurd shop across the road, and everybody used to call her Beancurd Beauty."
"I only felt that all round me was an invisible high wall, cutting me off from my fellows, and this depressed me thoroughly."
"He would look over the offender, and if it were someone weak in repartee he would curse him, while if it were a poor fighter he would hit him."
"The next day he would go to work with swollen eyes."
"'Are your bones itching?' demanded Whiskers Wang, standing up too and putting on his coat."
"Ah Q would not have been bewitched by her; nor would this have happened if the little nun's face had been covered by a cloth."
"Now though Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns, there are times when "'Discretion is the better part of valor."'
"Mr. Chao did not agree, saying that he might bear a grudge, and that in a business like this it was probably a case of 'the eagle does not prey on its own nest.'"
"He supposed that in this world it was the fate of everybody at some time to be dragged in a and out of prison, and to have to draw circles on paper; it was only because his circle had not been round that he felt there was a stain on his reputation. Presently, however, he regained composure by thinking, 'Only idiots can make perfect circles.' And with this thought he fell asleep."
"Four years before, at the foot of the mountain, he had met a hungry wolf which had followed him at a set distance, wanting to eat him."
"But the night air was so brisk, it went right through me. This seemed to be the first time I had known such good air in Peking."
"The boat seemed like a great white fish carrying a freight of children on its back through the foam."
"If he did scold us we would ask him to return the pine branch he had taken the previous year from the river bank, and call him "Old Scabby" to his face."
"'I am not sure' is a most useful phrase."
"After experiencing many time that things which I hoped would not happen and felt should not happen invariably did happen, I was desperately afraid this would prove another such case."
"So although questions kept rising to the tip of my tongue, I had to bite them back."
"It was really a bolt from the blue."
"saw the glow of the yellow oil lamp as large as a bean."
"That night, although indigestion kept me from sleeping well and I had a series of nightmares, I still wished her a lifetime of happiness, and hoped the world would change for the better for her sake."
"Sometimes she even cried all night, until Chang Fu lost his temper and scolded her, saying she had waited too long to marry and had gone mad."
"Even if a high wall were built round this family, still the air could scarcely be kept separate."
"His head seemed to be bursting as if filled to the brim with sharp faggots."
"Nevertheless he persevered, and pursued his train of thought distractedly"
"...the man is a writer; the woman is also a writer, or else a lover of literature. Or else the woman is a poetess; the man is a lover of poetry, a respecter of womanhood."
"The master's study is apart, its wall lined with bookshelves; there are naturally no cabbages there."
"He must still be studying dead books."
"Before long, the broad leaves of the evergreen which was the only potted plant they had were swallowed up in the darkness, and stars twinkled between white clouds whic looked like torn cotton."
"As a result, probably, of reading Yu Dafu's romantic stories, they constantly referred to themselves as "the young unfortunate" or "the outcast"; and, sprawling on the big chairs like lazy and arrogant crabs, they would sigh, smoke and frown all at the same time."
"The life of one who created loneliness for herself and tasted its bitterness."
"Feeling cheerless, but by no means sad"
"then, somehow, I was out of the gate."
"What did she care about the half pot of face cream or the flattened nose tip?"
"There was the never-ending business of eating everyday."
"As the words left my mouth I could not free myself from the suspicion that there was an unseen urchin behind me maliciously parroting all I said."
"There are many ways open to me, and I must take one of them because I am still living. I don't know, though, how to take the first step. Sometimes the road seem like a great, grey serpent, writhing and darting at me. I wait and wait and watch it approach, but it always disappears suddenly in the darkness."
"'Noodles with crow sauce again! Noodles with crow sauce again! I'd like to know who else eats nothing but noodles with crow sauce from one year to the next? How ill-fated I was to marry you and eat noodles with crow sauce the whole year round!'"
"But on rising after noon the next day the king was in a bad mood again. By the time lunch was over, he was furious. 'I'm bored!' he cried with a great yawn."
"A smile was on its face. Its tangled hair was like faint blue smoke."
"But even as they trembled, they knew a secret joy."
"They retrieved a tangled mass of white hair and black hair, and several spoonfuls of some shorter hair, no doubt from white and black mustaches. Then another skull. Then three hairpins."
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November 16, 2023Türkçe'ye Çığlık ismiyle çevrilip, Yalçın Yayınları tarafından basılan öykü derlemesi bu olsa gerek diye düşünüyorum.
Ve de diyorum ki; Lu Xun'un öyküleri inanılmaz güçlü, müthiş duygusal yoğunluklu ve bir o kadar sade. Cidden karakterlerin nefes almakta zorlandığını, kelimelerin boğazına dizildiğini, alaycı bakışlarını ya da göz devirmelerini gözlerimle görmüş, kulaklarımla duymuş gibiyim. Kısacık öykülerde, basit sözcüklerle bu kadar ikna edici, derinlikli karakterler tanımak çok keyifliydi. Seve seve katlandık tüm acılara beraber.
Ne de olsa biz, yüzlerce yıldır beraber taşıyanlar değil miyiz bu dünyanın yükünü?
Ben çok severek okudum ve epey de iz bıraktı üzerimde. Tavsiye edilir.
Ve de diyorum ki; Lu Xun'un öyküleri inanılmaz güçlü, müthiş duygusal yoğunluklu ve bir o kadar sade. Cidden karakterlerin nefes almakta zorlandığını, kelimelerin boğazına dizildiğini, alaycı bakışlarını ya da göz devirmelerini gözlerimle görmüş, kulaklarımla duymuş gibiyim. Kısacık öykülerde, basit sözcüklerle bu kadar ikna edici, derinlikli karakterler tanımak çok keyifliydi. Seve seve katlandık tüm acılara beraber.
Ne de olsa biz, yüzlerce yıldır beraber taşıyanlar değil miyiz bu dünyanın yükünü?
Ben çok severek okudum ve epey de iz bıraktı üzerimde. Tavsiye edilir.
December 12, 2013
Lu Xun (1881-1936) was the first modern Chinese writer, and perhaps the greatest Chinese writer of the 20th century. Unlike Chinese writers before him, he rejected traditional, formal literary styles and used the modern Chinese dialect to write his stories. As a writer, he was also an insightful and sometimes scathing social critic. He sought to use literature to bring to light the problems in China, and bring social change.
Like many in the pre-War Chinese intelligentsia, Lu was a revolutionary, even though he never joined the Communist Party. Because he was a revolutionary and because of his sharp comments on pre-Revolutionary China, he is by far the most revered modern writer in China, and millions of schoolchildren are forced to memorize large sections of his work. At the same time, many if not most of the observations he made more than eighty years ago are still true of China today. This basic contradiction has caused many to de-emphasize his works, and he is less popular and less read in China nowadays than he was in previous generations. Indeed, some schools have even stopped teaching him.
None of this should put off Western readers. Anyone who wants to understand modern China should begin with the stories in this volume. Some of these works, such as "Medicine" and "My Old Home" are full of great and haunting literary beauty. Others, such as "The True Story of Ah Q" (his most famous work), will be more difficult for Western readers to get a handle on, but are nevertheless worthwhile to read and study.
The main quibble with this collection is that it is a reprinting of the 1960 translation by the husband and wife team of Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. There is no question that their translation is technically accurate, and both were distinguished scholars in their own right. However, Gladys used her not inconsiderable writing skills to polish and improve upon Lu Xun's work. In essence, she tried to make the writing pretty. This would be like filtering the work of Ernest Hemingway through the lens of a Victorian poet. In Chinese, Lu's writing style is direct, simple, and immediate. Gladys's efforts on the other hand are too often verbose, literary, and quaint.
I fully realize that I have jumped into a bed of fire-ants by offering this assessment. Many, many Chinese people view Gladys Yang's translation as the received text in English, perhaps because the writing style is beautiful. However, stylistically, she did Lu Xun no favors, and most modern readers will find her old-fashioned writing style a distraction.
There is a new translation published by Penguin (The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun) , but I have not had a chance to read it so I cannot vouch for its quality. While I would certainly recommend reading the works of Lu Xun, a reader might do well to try out the other translation.
April 24, 2014
I had come across 'the true story of Ah Q' way back in 1980s when I was privileged to see the Bengali theatre adaptation "Jagannath".
Almost immediately I borrowed a selection of his stories in Bengali "LU HSUNer nirvachit galpo" edited and translated by Sandip Sengupta (Katha o Kahini) and read all the stories. The very first story in the book was 'dairy of a madman' and the seventh story was 'the true storey of Ah Q'.
Thereafter I bought every LU XUN (or LU HSUN as he was known then) books I could lay my hands on. Of course courtesy Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Beijing), they were affordable (not as affordable as the Progress Publishers books, but still, affordable for students earning on the sly with one or two tutions).
His stories, prose poems, essays all are so simply written that even bad translators couldn't kill their flavour. In variably, the English translations were barely passable, but the Bengali translations used to be pretty good. I don't know Chinese and don't know if any of the Bengali translators knew Chinese.
Having a look at the LU Xun books on my self, I find: (FLP - Foreign Languages Press, E - English)
1. Call to Arms (FLP - E)
2. Old Tales Retold (FLP - E)
3. Wild Grass (FLP - E)
4. Wandering (FLP - E)
5. Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk (FLP - E)
6. Selected Stories of LU HSUN (FLP - E)
7. Selected Essays (Ed. Samar Ghosh, BENGALI)
8. Selected Stories (BENGALI)
I had read all his available books. All these books still remain with me - literally and figuratively!!!
Almost immediately I borrowed a selection of his stories in Bengali "LU HSUNer nirvachit galpo" edited and translated by Sandip Sengupta (Katha o Kahini) and read all the stories. The very first story in the book was 'dairy of a madman' and the seventh story was 'the true storey of Ah Q'.
Thereafter I bought every LU XUN (or LU HSUN as he was known then) books I could lay my hands on. Of course courtesy Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Beijing), they were affordable (not as affordable as the Progress Publishers books, but still, affordable for students earning on the sly with one or two tutions).
His stories, prose poems, essays all are so simply written that even bad translators couldn't kill their flavour. In variably, the English translations were barely passable, but the Bengali translations used to be pretty good. I don't know Chinese and don't know if any of the Bengali translators knew Chinese.
Having a look at the LU Xun books on my self, I find: (FLP - Foreign Languages Press, E - English)
1. Call to Arms (FLP - E)
2. Old Tales Retold (FLP - E)
3. Wild Grass (FLP - E)
4. Wandering (FLP - E)
5. Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk (FLP - E)
6. Selected Stories of LU HSUN (FLP - E)
7. Selected Essays (Ed. Samar Ghosh, BENGALI)
8. Selected Stories (BENGALI)
I had read all his available books. All these books still remain with me - literally and figuratively!!!
February 2, 2016
The first time I read Lu Xun was 20 years ago, when I was a teenager. I remember liking his verisimilitude. This collection of his short stories also talk about rural china & criticism of feudal society. My favourite stories are Diary of a Madman and Soap by far. Some of the stories are so distant and difficult to grasp since I don't know the history of China very well.
October 30, 2014
Lu Xun's heartbreakingly stark prose reflects the pain as well as the iconoclasm and creativity of a generation faced with impossible choices: “during the last thirty years with my own eyes I have seen the blood of so many young people mounting up that now I am submerged and cannot breathe.” (p. 276, The Gate of Heavenly Peace). Young patriots risked everything for their ideals; the old sat comfortably at home and wrote the eulogies of young patriots. Marxism provided a bridge between intellectual and peasant, young and old, and leftist writers like Lu Xun and Qu Qubai combined love of China with a recognition of the need for fundamental reforms. Yet contradictions abounded: while they believed that intellectuals held responsibility as artists and leaders, they doubted the legitimacy of art produced by the bourgeoisie. (p. 289, “Willing in the Face of Necessity.”) In the preface to Two Hearts, Lu Xun mocked the “flawed character of the middle-class intellectual” who acts “like a snail, with the weight of the world’s suffering on [his] back.” China’s intellectuals felt that it was their responsibility to lead China’s awakening, and yet they used a language 'the people' could not understand. Lu Xun's prose may not have been entirely comprehensible to all within his lifetime, but the language reforms he championed and the works he left behind came to define the May Fourth generation, and indeed China's long, strange 20th century.
October 10, 2019
Lu Xun's stories read as if they were written by a talented amateur, someone who had no training or expert assistance in what is a very subtle craft. The result is writing that is unsophisticated and somewhat plain, but still powerful. The story he is most famous for, "The True Story of Ah Q" is one of my least favorite. I first read it for a class called "Classics of Chinese Humanities," and even with some background in Chinese history (courtesy ChinaX) it still leaves me flat. I do like his other famous story, "A Madman's Diary," and a number of the more Chekhov-like stories. Some cultural context is helpful in reading these. Compassion for poor people even more so.
June 28, 2013
A laudable collection of short stories. As with any collection, there are some standouts. Lu Xun's most famous works are "A Madman's Diary" and "The True Story of Ah-Q," and for good reason. Both had me cackling with delight. "Forging the Swords" was delightful as well - the climactic scene will stay with you for a very long time. I was also quite moved by "The New Year's Sacrifice."
May 1, 2016
This book was checked out for an online class. Unfortunately, I couldn't complete the class, as the Chinese classics are not available in my local library and I was unable to find an alternate source that was affordable.
Was able to check this out, and it was astounding. Stories were short, heavy with dialogue, and very little back-story. Just enough internal monologue to gauge the emotion-state of the character.
They include snippets, snapshots--like having lunch with an old friend after having fallen on hard times, and also longer stories that were able to capture the rise and fall of individuals along with the rise and fall of new dynasties or prominence of temporary warlords who came for fealty and 'contributions'--or worse.
Much of the cultural and historical references went over my head, I fear. I have read the I Ching, some religious and medical texts that had translations from the Chinese into English, but those are formal writings. Reading the informal short stories was a new genre for me which I very much enjoyed.
Was able to check this out, and it was astounding. Stories were short, heavy with dialogue, and very little back-story. Just enough internal monologue to gauge the emotion-state of the character.
They include snippets, snapshots--like having lunch with an old friend after having fallen on hard times, and also longer stories that were able to capture the rise and fall of individuals along with the rise and fall of new dynasties or prominence of temporary warlords who came for fealty and 'contributions'--or worse.
Much of the cultural and historical references went over my head, I fear. I have read the I Ching, some religious and medical texts that had translations from the Chinese into English, but those are formal writings. Reading the informal short stories was a new genre for me which I very much enjoyed.
June 25, 2015
I read this for research purposes and found it very useful in that regard, though overall it's not a book that I liked. However, Lu Hsun must be looked at within the context of the time period in which he wrote: around 1920, in China. The particular edition of the book that I have was actually printed in China in the late 1970s; the author apparently later became a favorite of the communist party and Mao Zhedong.
Some of the stories are in a more feudal setting, while others are quite clearly contemporary. The day-to-day life details are fantastic: what they ate, how they dressed, but people behaved toward one another. The portrayals of women were... dismal. There is a recurring theme of wives abandoning their husbands, and just being generally unpleasant. Again, though, this has to be regarded in context. If this had been a modern book, I would have stopped reading early on.
Some of the stories are in a more feudal setting, while others are quite clearly contemporary. The day-to-day life details are fantastic: what they ate, how they dressed, but people behaved toward one another. The portrayals of women were... dismal. There is a recurring theme of wives abandoning their husbands, and just being generally unpleasant. Again, though, this has to be regarded in context. If this had been a modern book, I would have stopped reading early on.
April 7, 2014
A collection of mostly-brilliant stories from this legend (said to be the most famous Chinese author of the modern age). It's interesting that aside from this collection, he doesn't have many more fictional works of note. He was mainly an essayist, and it's remarkable that these stories really don't give the impression of being written by such an author. It's a testament to his (underused) creative powers that his few stories have had such a lasting impact.
"Regret of the Past" is one of the more heartbreakingly believable failed-love stories I've read. In fact, most of these stories have some sense of subtle, yet deep melancholy. Right up my alley!
"Regret of the Past" is one of the more heartbreakingly believable failed-love stories I've read. In fact, most of these stories have some sense of subtle, yet deep melancholy. Right up my alley!
April 12, 2020
Creo que en definitiva Lu Hsun es una referencia obligada en cuanto a la literatura china puesto que no solo fue uno de los grandes representantes de la misma, sino que además, logró hacer de ella un arma contra todo lo que estaba mal en aquel entonces. Los relatos acá reunidos abarcan temas políticos, culturales y emocionales que, y gracias a mi estadía actual en el país, siento que pude percibir de una manera diferente.
Con lo anterior y dejando de lado varias cosas de la traducción que personalmente encontré bastante incómodas, a continuación doy a conocer mis favoritos:
- A madman's diary
- Tomorrow
- My old home
- The true story of Ah Q
- In the wine shop
- The misanthrope
- Regret for the past
Con lo anterior y dejando de lado varias cosas de la traducción que personalmente encontré bastante incómodas, a continuación doy a conocer mis favoritos:
- A madman's diary
- Tomorrow
- My old home
- The true story of Ah Q
- In the wine shop
- The misanthrope
- Regret for the past
March 21, 2023
A great collection of Lu Hsun's works and a great introduction to him as a person. I personally enjoyed the stories, "A Madman's Diary", "The New Year's Sacrifice", and "Regret for the Past" the most.
December 28, 2021
Finished this in one day, I really really enjoyed it! It is pretty obvious why Lu Xun was the face of the revolution after reading this!
November 24, 2011
This collection of short stories is Lu Xun’s way of expressing his frustration and criticism of Chinese society. He comments on multiple aspects of Chinese society, many of which I can’t even guess. ;) But I do know some, but frankly, it’s boring to write so I’ll share only my favorite (the one I wrote an essay on!) of Lu Xun’s many purposes. Lu Xun divides the Chinese people of his time into three distinct groups—all of which he criticizes. The first division –and the group he hates the most-- are the blinded, beastlike Chinese people who ignore change in society. The second group is all the ignorant, foolish people who reject change. The third and final group is the revolutionaries, who he shows are foolish and dying for a lost cause. Yet, he sympathizes with them because he thinks they are noble in their attempts at change.
My favorite short story within this collection is “A Madman’s Diary.” The reason I like this story so much is its fantastic symbolism.
It’s odd, because Lu Xun is very pessimistic towards revolutionaries’ fates in China. Nevertheless, he wrote this revolutionary book, so he must have some hope for a revolution. He’s a torn man, but so are we all...
Another interesting aspect of Lu Xun is the fact that Chinese communists use him as a poster child for their revolution. Once again, it’s funny, because he’s not a communist. He wrote primarily about the 1920s and 1930s in China and died long the communists came on the scene. There is little doubt that if Lu Xun was alive during communist rule, he would not be revered, but suppressed. Communism has little room for critical and satirizing writers like Lu Xun. So though Lu Xun would not be a communist, communists like to say so because the people love him for his revolutionary writing. I guess those Chinese communists do what they want….
p.s. Lu Xun is a pen name! His real name is Zhou Shuren, but everyone still refers to him as Lu Xun.
August 3, 2009
Lu Hsun is a mammoth figure in Chinse literature. He mostly wrote in the 1910s and 1920s and he was as much a giant in his time as he is today. A notorious reformer who advocated for an end to imperial governance, Hsun generally sided with the communists over the nationalists during China's turbulent transitional period. More importantly, he revolutionized prose in the Middle Kingdom. Hsun was the first author to write in and popularize the vernacular form in fiction. Before Hsun, average Chinese could hardly read or understand classical stories and Chinese mythology because they were written in a form only scholars could comprehend. Hsun wrote in such a way that the common man could recognize, and had his characters speak similarly. For this he is widely credited in China as being the godfather of modern Chinese literature. He is seen as the man most responsible for dragging Chinese letters into the modern era.
Ironically, he never wrote a novel. And the grand total of his short stories amount to only two books worth of collections. I chose this volume because it contains his two or three most famous works (such as "A Madman's Diary" and "The True Story of Ah Q"). I'm glad I did, because now I will recognize references to Hsun's archetypes that have become a part of the Chinese language, and the many movies, TV shows, and non-fiction accounts of his life and stories that permeate the culture. But is it the best collection of short works I've ever read? No. I imagine that in its time and place it was earthshaking stuff, but coming from a different era and a different culture, Hsun's writing falls short of greatness to my eyes. Some of his stories are universal, but many speak directly to China and the Chinese, to the detriment of any outsider trying to understand what his characters are doing and why. Many stories seem quite stuck in their time and place. Still, it was worth my time.
Ironically, he never wrote a novel. And the grand total of his short stories amount to only two books worth of collections. I chose this volume because it contains his two or three most famous works (such as "A Madman's Diary" and "The True Story of Ah Q"). I'm glad I did, because now I will recognize references to Hsun's archetypes that have become a part of the Chinese language, and the many movies, TV shows, and non-fiction accounts of his life and stories that permeate the culture. But is it the best collection of short works I've ever read? No. I imagine that in its time and place it was earthshaking stuff, but coming from a different era and a different culture, Hsun's writing falls short of greatness to my eyes. Some of his stories are universal, but many speak directly to China and the Chinese, to the detriment of any outsider trying to understand what his characters are doing and why. Many stories seem quite stuck in their time and place. Still, it was worth my time.
August 24, 2022
Lu Xun (鲁迅)—the quintessential modernist writer of China and the Chinese Communist Party’s homeboy. Some call him the father of modern Chinese literature, and for good reason: he was the first Chinese author to write fiction in vernacular Chinese. Thus, the seminal Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦), completed in 1792, is one of the four great Chinese classical novels (古典小说), but Lu Xun, writing in the early 1900s, is regarded as a modern writer. This is also due to the cataclysmic events in Chinese history in the “Century of Humiliation” (百年国耻), starting with the Opium Wars, and proceeding through wars with Britain, France, Russia, and Japan, the fall of the Qing Dynasty, WWI, and WWII, culminating with the fleeing of the Kuomintang and the rise of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party. I give you this history to better acclimate you to the turbulence of a rapidly modernizing China during his time. Lu Xun himself studied Western literature in China and Japan, even making direct references to Ibsen, Shelley, Byron, etc. in the short stories in this collection.
The influence of of the West led him to write in a different style than previous Chinese literature as well. This is best seen in his short stories about peasants, vagrants, madmen, and beggars. Though the West had a precursor in the Canterbury Tales, Chinese literature (as far as I know) had never been interested in peasants as main characters in a work of fiction until Lu Xun. Naturally, the general public was very interested in these shorts stories for this reason, and naturally Mao Zedong also took a liking towards Lu Xun’s eye for the proletariat. Lu Xun himself, it seems, was not wholesale CCP, and he had sympathies with Kuomintang, but he had a safe and comfortable position in the building of a new modern culture in mainland China, and eventually became one of the staples in Chinese primary education. (My own parents, growing up in China, had to read Lu Xun as a child in primary school, and then also as humanities majors in college.) His characters have thus become somewhat of household names as various Chinese idioms.
What I love about Lu Xun is also what I love about another modernist counterpart that Lu Xun read: Anton Chekhov. As a Chinese writer, Russian literature had an oversized influence on Lu Xun, and Lu Xun’s short stories in China acted like Chekhov’s in Russia. The stories are short, sad, and have no moral. You are led into the story, and then the story almost always ends with no resolution—just a cold, hard staring into the oblivion that is human life. In some stories, a character dies at the end, without warning, and you are left to think about the rest of the characters’ lives yourself. Sometimes the story just cuts off because that’s all the narrator knows. And sometimes, the narrator himself is unreliable. Many times, there are major objects, people, places, etc. that seem very important or symbolic, but we are left not knowing its symbolism, or if it actually means anything at all.
This is because Lu Xun also is interested in the border between the modern and the traditional. He shows interactions between non-Westernized peasants that are extremely superstitious and the well-learned student of the West. He knows the interaction so well because he himself likely had many interactions like it. The best story showing this interaction is “The New Year Sacrifice” (祝福). Read it; I won’t spoil it. In many stories these Westernized characters realize the futility of their learning, and return to old ways, like “In the Tavern” (在酒楼上), which basically has no plot (I think that’s wonderful).
There are really mainly two orientations of the narrator in these stories: the psychological first-person and distanced third-person. Sometimes, it is both, like the famous “A Madman’s Diary” (狂人日记). The first-person narrator documents his distant relationship with the person in question, and makes sure we know that his material is merely from a diary that was handed to him from the Madman’s brother—we are several degrees of Kevin Bacon away from the actual source. This distanced narrator gives a kind of oral/traditional tale feeling to these stories, but it also provides distance for the reader towards the events in question. But then when we read the actual diary, it is first-person, and extremely psychological—we get inside the head of a madman. If this is not modernist, I don’t know what is. However, many stories are told through a distanced third-person. This is when the narrator, who starts in first-person, assumes a third-person mode and describes a story that he has heard through the grapevine, or that he has only partly witnessed. In almost all these stories, we have a need for distancing; I think that is a really interesting technique, one that can be employed in various ways to various effects in different genres (shameless plug of my recent review of a music record that employs musical distancing). I’d be interested if anyone had any pointers to the purpose of Lu Xun’s distancing method here.
If interested, I recommend you try reading “A New Year’s Sacrifice”; it’s my favorite. Ironically, it—unlike his others stories—somewhat has a moral, but it’s not really that pronounced. You can find it free online here. (Yes, the webpage is literally marxists.org. That shows you something about the legacy of Lu Xun in some circles.) The translation is the same as the translation I read; see my comments about that below. Two short stories that stick out for being different are “A Happy Family” (幸福的家庭), which is a lot more psychological than the rest and about the meta-topic of a short story writer, and “Forging the Swords” (铸剑), a retelling of a traditional story from the Jin dynasty era.
Lastly, this edition is only useful for people who have at least a very basic understanding of Chinese. The English translations in this edition are really bad, but you have the Chinese characters on the other side of the page to get a good feel of what the original says. If you don't know any Chinese, I would recommend the Penguin edition; although I personally haven't tried it, it must be better than this edition from Foreign Languages Press (and Penguin endnotes would be helpful). If you do know some Chinese, you might just do better with both the Penguin and the bilingual, if you're really committed. This book’s edition is really what dropped the rating from a 5 star.
The influence of of the West led him to write in a different style than previous Chinese literature as well. This is best seen in his short stories about peasants, vagrants, madmen, and beggars. Though the West had a precursor in the Canterbury Tales, Chinese literature (as far as I know) had never been interested in peasants as main characters in a work of fiction until Lu Xun. Naturally, the general public was very interested in these shorts stories for this reason, and naturally Mao Zedong also took a liking towards Lu Xun’s eye for the proletariat. Lu Xun himself, it seems, was not wholesale CCP, and he had sympathies with Kuomintang, but he had a safe and comfortable position in the building of a new modern culture in mainland China, and eventually became one of the staples in Chinese primary education. (My own parents, growing up in China, had to read Lu Xun as a child in primary school, and then also as humanities majors in college.) His characters have thus become somewhat of household names as various Chinese idioms.
What I love about Lu Xun is also what I love about another modernist counterpart that Lu Xun read: Anton Chekhov. As a Chinese writer, Russian literature had an oversized influence on Lu Xun, and Lu Xun’s short stories in China acted like Chekhov’s in Russia. The stories are short, sad, and have no moral. You are led into the story, and then the story almost always ends with no resolution—just a cold, hard staring into the oblivion that is human life. In some stories, a character dies at the end, without warning, and you are left to think about the rest of the characters’ lives yourself. Sometimes the story just cuts off because that’s all the narrator knows. And sometimes, the narrator himself is unreliable. Many times, there are major objects, people, places, etc. that seem very important or symbolic, but we are left not knowing its symbolism, or if it actually means anything at all.
This is because Lu Xun also is interested in the border between the modern and the traditional. He shows interactions between non-Westernized peasants that are extremely superstitious and the well-learned student of the West. He knows the interaction so well because he himself likely had many interactions like it. The best story showing this interaction is “The New Year Sacrifice” (祝福). Read it; I won’t spoil it. In many stories these Westernized characters realize the futility of their learning, and return to old ways, like “In the Tavern” (在酒楼上), which basically has no plot (I think that’s wonderful).
There are really mainly two orientations of the narrator in these stories: the psychological first-person and distanced third-person. Sometimes, it is both, like the famous “A Madman’s Diary” (狂人日记). The first-person narrator documents his distant relationship with the person in question, and makes sure we know that his material is merely from a diary that was handed to him from the Madman’s brother—we are several degrees of Kevin Bacon away from the actual source. This distanced narrator gives a kind of oral/traditional tale feeling to these stories, but it also provides distance for the reader towards the events in question. But then when we read the actual diary, it is first-person, and extremely psychological—we get inside the head of a madman. If this is not modernist, I don’t know what is. However, many stories are told through a distanced third-person. This is when the narrator, who starts in first-person, assumes a third-person mode and describes a story that he has heard through the grapevine, or that he has only partly witnessed. In almost all these stories, we have a need for distancing; I think that is a really interesting technique, one that can be employed in various ways to various effects in different genres (shameless plug of my recent review of a music record that employs musical distancing). I’d be interested if anyone had any pointers to the purpose of Lu Xun’s distancing method here.
If interested, I recommend you try reading “A New Year’s Sacrifice”; it’s my favorite. Ironically, it—unlike his others stories—somewhat has a moral, but it’s not really that pronounced. You can find it free online here. (Yes, the webpage is literally marxists.org. That shows you something about the legacy of Lu Xun in some circles.) The translation is the same as the translation I read; see my comments about that below. Two short stories that stick out for being different are “A Happy Family” (幸福的家庭), which is a lot more psychological than the rest and about the meta-topic of a short story writer, and “Forging the Swords” (铸剑), a retelling of a traditional story from the Jin dynasty era.
Lastly, this edition is only useful for people who have at least a very basic understanding of Chinese. The English translations in this edition are really bad, but you have the Chinese characters on the other side of the page to get a good feel of what the original says. If you don't know any Chinese, I would recommend the Penguin edition; although I personally haven't tried it, it must be better than this edition from Foreign Languages Press (and Penguin endnotes would be helpful). If you do know some Chinese, you might just do better with both the Penguin and the bilingual, if you're really committed. This book’s edition is really what dropped the rating from a 5 star.
July 26, 2017
What makes Lu Xun one of my favorite writers is his brevity and subtlety. While other writers of his time felt they needed massive volumes of text in order to describe their ideas, he was able to provoke change with stories as short as 4 pages, sometimes even less. This he accomplished by embedding double-meanings into the objects of his stories. Through Lu Xun's writing, the simple act of cannibalism is broadened to infer an entire manner of ideology throughout history; a piece of soap can become a representation of authority; even something as basic as a person falling down can have profound implications.
Lu Xun's stories are the perfect example of taught fiction, of the "Chekhov's Gun" principle, that every minute element is in someway important to the themes and morals of the story.
These stories range from the wildly humorous Madman's Diary, to the the pensive and nostalgic Regret for the past. Though they mostly reside in the genre of realism, the last two stories dabble in the fantastic.
Each story has a political side which ties them to the Chinese society of the past, but also contain a pathos and psychological depth which makes them universal and timeless.
Seriously, I can't describe how happy I am to read eloquence such as this, compacted in truly short stories as they were here. I loathe reading those massive classic French and Russian tomes like Monte Cristo, The Red and the Black , and Anna Karenina because they demand so much sacrifice! Writers need to understand, more is less and less is more.
Lu Xun's stories are the perfect example of taught fiction, of the "Chekhov's Gun" principle, that every minute element is in someway important to the themes and morals of the story.
These stories range from the wildly humorous Madman's Diary, to the the pensive and nostalgic Regret for the past. Though they mostly reside in the genre of realism, the last two stories dabble in the fantastic.
Each story has a political side which ties them to the Chinese society of the past, but also contain a pathos and psychological depth which makes them universal and timeless.
Seriously, I can't describe how happy I am to read eloquence such as this, compacted in truly short stories as they were here. I loathe reading those massive classic French and Russian tomes like Monte Cristo, The Red and the Black , and Anna Karenina because they demand so much sacrifice! Writers need to understand, more is less and less is more.
February 28, 2012
As with all of Lu Hsun's work, he uses the short stories in this collection to criticize the society he lives in. I haven't read all of the short stories. The stories I read are "Kung-I-Chi", "Medicine", "Storm in a Teacup" and "Soap". In "Kung-I-Chi", the title character clearly seems to have been a member of the elite until he failed his exams; causing him to become unemployable and someone to be mocked and laughed at by the rest of society. "Medicine" is the story of a family with a sick child and the reprecussions of the supposed 'cure'. The cure is requires human sacrifice, but, by the story's conclusion, we learn that not all is as it appears to be. "Storm in a Teacup" and "Soap" were a bit odd. Women and children, especially children, were mistreated in "Storm in a Teacup", but there seems to be no clear plot and the ending was a bit flat. "Soap" was a better story. It had a clear, well-developed plot, but I don't really understand what criticism Lu Xun was trying to make. The main male character in the story criticized the education his son was getting.
October 9, 2012
I think, if I read these stories individually, scattered--an anthology, The New Yorker--I would have enjoyed the little slivers of Lu Hsun, but in a collection, there was something relentless, as if I was starting over with each story, one about a child lost to illness, then another, about adults failing to conform and coppers and dirt roads. Perhaps it was my approach; I should have saved these as one story every few weeks, but I cannot read this way--if a book lingers at my bedside table, it is often because it is too good, or that it is thick and rich and I need a sleeping toddler in order to focus, that I think the book is deserving of such focus. But in this case, I just felt I needed to move on. This isn't to discount the individual gems, but even the introduction by Ha Jin reflects isn't glowing.
November 4, 2011
A good book if you were ever interested in foreign authors, the fact that it is a collection of short stories is great for those of you who don't want to jump in with two feet into an entire book. some of the stories read a bit like fables--were the characters are not as fully developed as characters are as today. i imagine certain things get lost in translation but, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is just a different style of writing [which i found refreshing after reading herman melville's moby dick] this is true for "the true story of ah q" which i personally liked and it is the short story that is most associated with lu hsun.
January 4, 2017
Reading Lu Xun is a must for anyone who studies modern Chinese history like I do. While the English translations get at the fact that Lu Xun was indeed the first modern literature writer in Chinese history, they cannot capture some of the beauty (in my opinion) of the original Chinese. The traditional background of Lu Xun is lost in simple English translation. When you read in the original Chinese, you know Lu Xun's educational and literary background comes through with his word choice and the topics he chooses to write about. That being said, this is a great collection to introduce students to his writing.
April 16, 2015
Some stories are definitely better than others, and if you don't read Ha Jin's introduction, a lot is lost. Furthermore, if you don't know other context, it can also radically take away from the experience.
But this is one of the most important, influential authors in Chinese history today because Mao really liked him. Many of his stories strongly affect Chinese society, and even an abbreviated version of Kung Yichi was featured in a textbook of mine.
Kung Yichi in particular really moved me, but others were very good as well. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.
But this is one of the most important, influential authors in Chinese history today because Mao really liked him. Many of his stories strongly affect Chinese society, and even an abbreviated version of Kung Yichi was featured in a textbook of mine.
Kung Yichi in particular really moved me, but others were very good as well. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.
Read
March 21, 2016" my old home and " A" small incident " are two short stories I have read from this story collection by lu Xun. Both stories try to show the economic division can causes social and cultural differences.
Economic division relates to monastery division within society . The difference between the rich, middle class, and the poor. for example in " my old home" the main character meets his childhood friend after 20 years. His friend started to call him " Master" because he become a rich person.
Economic division relates to monastery division within society . The difference between the rich, middle class, and the poor. for example in " my old home" the main character meets his childhood friend after 20 years. His friend started to call him " Master" because he become a rich person.
October 2, 2017
A compelling collection of short stories from early 20th century China. Most are realist depictions of life, often for those on the margins (Mao admired Lu Hsun). A couple are more fantastical. There are some a haunting scenes--such as when an adolescent boy keeps changing his mind as to whether he is killing or saving a rat who has kept him awake at night and has fallen into a pot of water.
For my 2017 effort to read a broader array of world literature and my more particular goal of reading Chinese literature this year, this was a good contribution.
For my 2017 effort to read a broader array of world literature and my more particular goal of reading Chinese literature this year, this was a good contribution.
April 5, 2013
I enjoyed a few of the stories, and they were written well. They just didn't interest me as a whole. Madman's Diary and Forging of the Swords were my favorite pieces. The others were fine, too, but not particularly moving. Lu Hsun's undertone of nostalgia throughout all the stories was good, but somewhat mind-numbing after an hour of reading him.
I'm also not a fan of horror, and although his writing isn't really that genre, a few of his stories were fairly creepy. And I mean really creepy.
I'm also not a fan of horror, and although his writing isn't really that genre, a few of his stories were fairly creepy. And I mean really creepy.
January 7, 2008
Had a greater impact on me, I think, since I currently live in the town of Lu Xun's tales, and live on the college campus that boasts a large bronze statue of the author at its front gate. These mostly tragic short stories cast murky light onto a past China whose inhabitants share the same worries, fears, and delights of modern day residents. A powerful translation.
December 8, 2014
So that's finally over.
A few of the stories had some rather fine points, but the selection as a whole is emotionally bleak, especially the stories considering the tragedies that the common folk of that particular time had to go through. I don't know, I guess I expected more from the so-called "Father of modern Chinese literature".
A few of the stories had some rather fine points, but the selection as a whole is emotionally bleak, especially the stories considering the tragedies that the common folk of that particular time had to go through. I don't know, I guess I expected more from the so-called "Father of modern Chinese literature".
September 23, 2025
Here are Selected Stories of Lu Xun, a collection of works written between April 1918 and October 1926. Lu Xun, who passed away on October 19, 1936 at the age of 55—the very year my parents were both just one year old—was a towering figure in modern Chinese literature. He was not only a novelist, literary critic, and essayist, but also a poet, translator, and political commentator, known for his sharp and critical reflections on Chinese history, culture, and human nature.
What drew me to his writing was knowing that Lu Xun read the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher whose ideas often challenge us to confront uncomfortable truths. Lu Xun’s stories are deeply philosophical, offering insight not only into the struggles of his era but into universal truths about humanity.
This collection is filled with passages that struck me with their wisdom and emotional power, and I wanted to preserve some of them here:
• “Each generation is worse than the last.”
• “Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just roads across the earth. For actually, the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made.” (Jan. 1921)
• “People from big towns who have studied really know what’s good.” (Oct. 1922)
• “One writes simply as one feels, such a work is sunlight radiating from a source of infinite brightness, not like a spark from a flint struck on iron or stone. This alone is true art. And such a writer alone is a true artist.”
• “Children have none of the faults of grown-ups. If they turn out badly later, as you contend, it is because they have been molded by their environment.”
• “Time certainly flies. A whole year has passed since I fell in love.”
• “I must take a fresh start in life. Hiding the truth deep in my wounded heart, I must advance silently, taking oblivion and falsehood as my guide.”
• “When enemies meet they know each other at a glance, particularly at close quarters.”
Reading Lu Xun feels like sitting with a wise elder who challenges you, comforts you, and pushes you to question the world around you. His words transcend time and place, speaking to the struggles of modern life just as powerfully as they did a century ago.
This is not a book to rush through. It’s a book to savor slowly, reflecting on each story and the truths hidden between its lines. I give this collection five stars, not just for its literary merit, but for its intellectual wisdom and profound humanity. It’s a book that reminds us, as Lu Xun wrote, that even when the world feels without hope, we can create our own path forward by walking it.
More quotes and notes that captured me:
• It struck him that matters had reached a most dangerous pass and he tried to think of a way out, some plan of action.
• I traveled back to the old home I had left over twenty years ago. I could not help feeling depressed—still, it is not so depressing as I imagine; it is only my mood that has changed.
• The more money people have, the more miserly they get, and the more miserly they are, the more money they get.
• I felt far more nervous than when a surprise test is sprung on you at school and the teacher insists on standing over you.
• “I’m not sure” is a most useful phrase.
• The shelves are filled with Chinese books and foreign books, including of course “An Ideal Husband” (two copies).
• Changes take place so swiftly!
• The past year has been blotted out as if it had never been, as if I had never moved out of this shabby room to set up house, in a small way but with high hopes.
• We just sat facing each other in the lamplight, reminiscing, savoring again the joy of the new harmony which had followed our disputes.
• I had been like a wild bird in a cage, given just enough bird-seed by its captor to keep alive, but not to thrive; doomed as time passed to lose the use of its wings, so that if ever released it would be unable to fly. Now, at any rate, I had got out of the cage. I must soar anew through the boundless sky before it was too late. I had forgotten how to flap my wings.
• You read something and think you understand it, but when you come to translate it difficulties crop up everywhere, and progress is very slow.
• Apparently she had forgotten all she had ever learned, and did not realize that she was interrupting my train of thought when she called me to meals. And although I sometimes showed a little displeasure as I sat down, she paid no attention at all, just went on munching away quite unconcerned.
• The cold weather and her cold looks made it impossible for me to be comfortable at home. But where could I go? I could get away from her icy looks in the street, but the cold wind there cut like a knife. Finally, I found heaven in the public library.
• I found quiet in which to think. I realized that during the last half year, for love—blind love—I had neglected all the other important things in life. A man must make a living before there can be any place for love. There must be a way out for those who struggle.
• I often felt, in my depression, that really great courage was needed to tell the truth. For a man who lacked courage and reconciled himself to hypocrisy could never open up a new path in life. What’s more, he just could not exist.
What drew me to his writing was knowing that Lu Xun read the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher whose ideas often challenge us to confront uncomfortable truths. Lu Xun’s stories are deeply philosophical, offering insight not only into the struggles of his era but into universal truths about humanity.
This collection is filled with passages that struck me with their wisdom and emotional power, and I wanted to preserve some of them here:
• “Each generation is worse than the last.”
• “Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just roads across the earth. For actually, the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made.” (Jan. 1921)
• “People from big towns who have studied really know what’s good.” (Oct. 1922)
• “One writes simply as one feels, such a work is sunlight radiating from a source of infinite brightness, not like a spark from a flint struck on iron or stone. This alone is true art. And such a writer alone is a true artist.”
• “Children have none of the faults of grown-ups. If they turn out badly later, as you contend, it is because they have been molded by their environment.”
• “Time certainly flies. A whole year has passed since I fell in love.”
• “I must take a fresh start in life. Hiding the truth deep in my wounded heart, I must advance silently, taking oblivion and falsehood as my guide.”
• “When enemies meet they know each other at a glance, particularly at close quarters.”
Reading Lu Xun feels like sitting with a wise elder who challenges you, comforts you, and pushes you to question the world around you. His words transcend time and place, speaking to the struggles of modern life just as powerfully as they did a century ago.
This is not a book to rush through. It’s a book to savor slowly, reflecting on each story and the truths hidden between its lines. I give this collection five stars, not just for its literary merit, but for its intellectual wisdom and profound humanity. It’s a book that reminds us, as Lu Xun wrote, that even when the world feels without hope, we can create our own path forward by walking it.
More quotes and notes that captured me:
• It struck him that matters had reached a most dangerous pass and he tried to think of a way out, some plan of action.
• I traveled back to the old home I had left over twenty years ago. I could not help feeling depressed—still, it is not so depressing as I imagine; it is only my mood that has changed.
• The more money people have, the more miserly they get, and the more miserly they are, the more money they get.
• I felt far more nervous than when a surprise test is sprung on you at school and the teacher insists on standing over you.
• “I’m not sure” is a most useful phrase.
• The shelves are filled with Chinese books and foreign books, including of course “An Ideal Husband” (two copies).
• Changes take place so swiftly!
• The past year has been blotted out as if it had never been, as if I had never moved out of this shabby room to set up house, in a small way but with high hopes.
• We just sat facing each other in the lamplight, reminiscing, savoring again the joy of the new harmony which had followed our disputes.
• I had been like a wild bird in a cage, given just enough bird-seed by its captor to keep alive, but not to thrive; doomed as time passed to lose the use of its wings, so that if ever released it would be unable to fly. Now, at any rate, I had got out of the cage. I must soar anew through the boundless sky before it was too late. I had forgotten how to flap my wings.
• You read something and think you understand it, but when you come to translate it difficulties crop up everywhere, and progress is very slow.
• Apparently she had forgotten all she had ever learned, and did not realize that she was interrupting my train of thought when she called me to meals. And although I sometimes showed a little displeasure as I sat down, she paid no attention at all, just went on munching away quite unconcerned.
• The cold weather and her cold looks made it impossible for me to be comfortable at home. But where could I go? I could get away from her icy looks in the street, but the cold wind there cut like a knife. Finally, I found heaven in the public library.
• I found quiet in which to think. I realized that during the last half year, for love—blind love—I had neglected all the other important things in life. A man must make a living before there can be any place for love. There must be a way out for those who struggle.
• I often felt, in my depression, that really great courage was needed to tell the truth. For a man who lacked courage and reconciled himself to hypocrisy could never open up a new path in life. What’s more, he just could not exist.
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