From Lanshe to Modern: A Study of the Group Centered Around Shi Zhencun, Dai Wangshu, Du Heng, and Liu Naoou

Author: Jin Li / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Lu Xun's breakthrough begins with a reimagining of "literature." Among figures like Lin Xijun, the so-called "literary production," the so-called "serious work," required "forms to be 'standardized,' to be bound by the 'constraints of literary genres'; content must be avoided; and scope must be limited. What was this 'serious work'? It was the 'Imperial Examination,' commonly known as the 'Eight-legged essay.'" However, Lu Xun believed that "compared to a grand astronomical observatory, 'satire' sometimes resembled the work of a small microscope—it examined filth, observed pus, sometimes studied gonorrhea, and sometimes dissected flies. From the perspective of an elite scholar, it was insignificant, filthy, and even detestable. But for the laborer themselves, it was also a 'serious work,' connected to life, and not particularly easy to do." Here, Lu Xun emphasized the rigor of satire's character and the seriousness of the satirist's creation. Behind the clash between the "small microscope" and the "grand astronomical observatory," Lu Xun was also using a deessentialized "literary" institution to deconstruct the monopoly of Lin Xijun and others in defining "literature" based on Western "literary theory." Shi Zhecun, Du Heng, Lin Xijun, and others regarded the "artistic value," "serious work," and "burdensome literary production" as self-evident, yet they were all products of historical construction. By dismantling the essential definition of literature, Lu Xun negated the hierarchical view of literary genres in "literary theory" that dismissed and ignored satire: If you look up "literary theory" in the United States or lecture notes from any Chinese university, you will indeed never find a term called "Tsa-wen." This truly makes young aspiring literary giants lose heart when they encounter satire—it turns out that it is not the ladder to climb into the lofty halls of literature. Did Tolstoy consult American "literary theory" or lecture notes from some Chinese university before writing, only to realize that novels were the legitimate form of literature, before deciding to create great works like War and Peace? I don’t know. But I do know that in recent years, Chinese satirists have written their essays without considering the dictates of "literary theory" or hoping for a place in literary history. They believed it was necessary to write this way, and they did just that, because they knew that writing in this manner was beneficial to everyone. Lu Xun has always been critical of the solemn, elegant, and meticulous essentialist prescriptions of "literary theory" or "lecture notes from some university." Those who are more self-aware are often frightened by such grand-sounding titles and strive to avoid them. To escape fame is actually to love fame—to escape this tangled mess of fame and unwilling to be trapped in it." When this line of thought is applied to the confirmation of the satirical genre, it becomes: I think if the palace of art has such troublesome regulations, it’s better not to enter; it’s better to stand in the desert, watch the flying sand and stones, laugh heartily when joyful, scream when sad, curse wildly when angry—even if the sand and gravel roughen your body, leave your head bleeding, and you frequently stroke your clotted blood, feeling that it may have patterns, it might not be as interesting as accompanying Chinese scholars to eat buttered bread with Shakespeare. Lu Xun’s exposure of "literary centrism" is precisely to awaken people to the power system hidden behind phrases like "serious work" and "burdensome literary production," as well as the (mábì) caused by this pure literary "artistic value," leading them to forget the "bloody path of survival" and even become the lackeys of reactionaries. That mindset of "unwilling to be trapped in it" or "better not to enter" carries Lu Xun’s reflection on the classicization and institutionalization of literature. Once any art or literature is "named," it often loses its original vitality. The value of satire lies in "immediately responding or resisting harmful things—it is the sensitive nerve, the offensive and defensive limbs." As for Lu Xun’s self-awareness of his own life value and the intrinsic connection between this awareness and his satirical writing, Mr. Zhang Xinying has already made very incisive arguments: Lu Xun could not abandon satire until the very end of his life—this satire, intertwined with others' praise and criticism, consuming his essence and spirit, this satire that is inseparably linked to the (píngyōng), tedious, dirty, even infuriating, disgusting, and despairing reality—its fundamental and intrinsic motivation stems from a subject’s free responsibility to the real world. This free responsibility to reality is the core element of this subject, located within it, and for the subject, it is not an external driving force. P258-259