Wood Engravings by Zhao Yan Nian: Grasslands

Author: Lu Xun
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-03-01
Features: This book includes 23 prose poems created by Lu Xun between September 1924 and April 1926, all written in Beijing under the rule of the Beiyang Warlord regime. Wild Grass is marked by serious self-examination and relentless intellectual exploration, with distinct artistic features. It employs symbolic and metaphorical techniques, rich imagination, and extraordinary composition. In 1932, the author recalled: "Later, the group of New Youth scattered, some rose to prominence, some retired, some moved forward, and I experienced again how companions in the same battlefront could change so drastically, ending up with the title of 'writer' and wandering in the desert. However, I could no longer escape writing for scattered publications, calling it casual talk. Wild Grass is fundamentally shallow, its flowers and leaves unbeautiful, yet it absorbs dew, water, the blood and flesh of the dead, each fighting for its survival. When alive, it still faces being trampled and chopped down, until it dies and decays. But I remain calm and joyful. I will laugh, I will sing. I love my Wild Grass, but I detest this ground decorated with it. The underground fire rumbles, bursts forth, and when the lava erupts, it will burn everything—the Wild Grass, the tall trees, and leave nothing to decay. But I remain calm and joyful. I will laugh, I will sing. The world is so serene, that I cannot laugh and sing. Even if the world is not so serene, I might not be able to either. With this bunch of Wild Grass, I offer it to friends and foes, humans and beasts, lovers and the unloved, at the juncture of light and darkness, life and death, past and future."