Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk

by Lu Xun, 鲁迅, Eileen J Cheng (Translation)

A brilliant new translation of the short improvisational fiction and memoirs of Lu Xun, the father of modern Chinese literature.

This captivating translation assembles two volumes by Lu Xun, the founder of modern Chinese literature and one of East Asia's most important thinkers at the turn of the twentieth century. Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk represent a pinnacle of achievement alongside Lu Xun's famed short stories.

In Wild Grass, a collection of twenty-three experimental pieces, surreal scenes come alive through haunting language and vivid imagery. These are landscapes populated by ghosts, talking animals, and sentient plants, where a protagonist might come face-to-face with their own corpse. By depicting the common struggle of real and imagined creatures to survive in an inhospitable world, Lu Xun asks the deceptively simple question, "What does it mean to be human?"

Alongside Wild Grass is Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk, a memoir in eight essays capturing the literary master's formative years and featuring a motley cast of dislocated characters--children, servants, outcasts, the dead and the dying. Giving voice to vulnerable subjects and depicting their hopes and despair as they negotiate an unforgiving existence, Morning Blossoms affirms the value of all beings and elucidates a central predicament of the human condition: feeling without a home in the world.

Beautifully translated and introduced by Eileen J. Cheng, these lyrical texts blur the line between autobiography and literary fiction. Together the two collections provide a new window into Lu Xun's mind and his quest to find beauty and meaning in a cruel and unjust world.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Lu 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

Reviews

[Brady Turpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing that Mao Zedong and I have in common is that we both consider Lu Xun one of our favorite authors (similarities stop there). These two collections, especially "Wild Grass" left me with a lot to think about. Lu Xun is clever, witty, and cutting in his commentary on Chinese society at the time. I will be revisiting this book again in the future.

As a sidenote, the translator, Eileen Cheng, did a remarkable job in making this work more accessible to a reader unfamiliar with Chinese culture and history. Well done.

[ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really an excellent and smooth read— the poetry section was the best. Wild Grass is very Taoist in its themes and has a kind of light nihilistic humor that I enjoyed. The images expressed are described in clean, simple language that enhances their impact. The memoir section of Morning Blossoms was a bit less interesting to me, perhaps since the wry humor felt more grating when applied to the annoyances of certain people as opposed to the absurdity of life. Five stars for wild grass, 3.5 for morning blossoms, for a well-rounded 4 stars overall.

[Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Book club book, didn’t particularly enjoy the poetry in Wild Grass, quite a downer. The memoir for Morning Blossoms was even worse to get through