Comparative Study of Gong Zizhen and Lu Xun

Author: Zhu Qizhi
Author Country: China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: This is an academic work of pioneering significance. Gong Zizhen and Lu Xun were literary figures and thinkers from different eras. A comprehensive and in-depth comparative study of them reflects the author's academic courage and foundation. The overall structure of the book is complete, the arguments are fluent, and the insights are abundant, making it an excellent academic work. In my private discourse space, I have always harbored doubts about the relationship between the so-called contingency and necessity in history. Although Hegel the Elder long ago endowed history with reason and proclaimed a linear law of its development from the lower to the higher, I still feel the elusiveness of worldly affairs. For example, my encounter with Gong Zizhen and Lu Xun, as well as my later research on them, was purely a matter of chance.
The reason I first linked the names of Gong Zizhen and Lu Xun together was during a debate in university. At that time, aesthetic issues were popular across the country, and even with a superficial understanding, they could spark the interest of university students. I remember the debate was triggered by Gong Zizhen's "Record of the Ill Plum Pavilion," specifically the question of whether the "ill plum" was beautiful. In fact, I strongly agreed with Gong Zizhen's reverence and praise for natural life, and I was deeply impressed by the passion and spirit he displayed. However, in an effort to stand out and appear unconventional, I used the example of Yangzhou bonsai to extensively discuss the frigid and slender realm of the "plum," advocating that the plum should be beautiful "because of its curves," "because of its leaning," and "because of its sparseness." Now that I think back, I may not have unintentionally played the role of a "spectator," nor did I not, with the indifference of a spectator, dissolve the plum's true life existence and replace it with a mere plaything. As the debate deepened and intensified, someone, in a moment of desperation, countered with the example of Lu Xun's dislike for Jiangnan, his preference for wind scattering stones, and his fondness for roughness. Although this was an accidental connection born of urgency, it influenced my academic direction for life. A lightning bolt flashed in my mind, and amidst the lightning stood two cultural giants. From then on, the destinies of Gong Zizhen and Lu Xun were linked together by me, intentionally or unintentionally.