Wu Zhongjie comments on Lu Xun's poems and prose

Author: Wu Zhongjie / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Many dreams in dreams, stirring up mischief at dusk. When the previous dream is pushed out by the one before it, the next dream chases the previous one away. The departing dream is black as ink; the one remaining is also black as ink. The departing and the remaining seem to say, "Look, how beautiful I am." Perhaps the color is good, but those in the dark cannot see it; moreover, they do not know who is speaking. In the dark, one feels feverish and has a headache. Come, come! The dreams are clear.
[Commentary] When Lu Xun was young, he had many dreams. He once dreamed of medicine saving the world: "My dream was very fulfilling—I planned to graduate and return to treat the suffering patients like my father, become a military doctor during wars, and at the same time promote the faith of the Chinese people in reform." Later, after being moved by the illustrations of the Russo-Japanese War, he felt that medicine was not important: "Even if the people are physically strong and robust, they can only serve as meaningless objects for public display and spectators. It is no great misfortune if they die. Therefore, our most important task is to change their spirit, and the best way to change the spirit, as I thought at that time, was literature, so I wanted to promote literary movements." This was a new dream. But as soon as he started publishing a magazine, he failed. The translated and published Collected Stories from Beyond the Borders also had no readership, and this dream was shattered, leaving him "as if standing in an endless wilderness with no means to act, how great a sorrow!" (From the Preface to A Call to Arms). Later, reality struck him even harder. "Having seen the Xinhai Revolution, the Second Revolution, Yuan Shikai's declaration of emperorship, and Zhang Xun's restoration, he grew skeptical and disappointed, becoming very listless," so at first, he "did not have much enthusiasm for the 'Literary Revolution'" (From the Preface to Selected Works). Later, persuaded by his old classmate Qian Xuantong, he came out to support the cause, and from then on, he could not stop. During the May Fourth Movement, Lu Xun demonstrated the achievements of new literature through fiction and essays, while also writing some vernacular poems to cheer on the new poetry scene. Together with A Madman's Diary, poems such as Dream, The God of Love, and Peach Blossoms were published in New Youth (Volume 4, Issue 5). Dream was written based on the author's own life experiences. In his youth, he had countless dreams, almost one after another, so many dreams, stirring up mischief before falling asleep at dusk. When one dream shattered, another would immediately appear, so it is said: "The previous dream is pushed out by the one before it, and the next dream chases the previous one away." These dreams are all illusory, and after they shatter, one feels enveloped in darkness, so it is said: "The departing dream is black as ink; the one remaining is also black as ink." Yet these dreams believe themselves to be beautiful, as if both the departing and the remaining say, 'Look, how beautiful I am.' Perhaps the color is good, but those in the dark cannot see it; moreover, they do not know who is speaking. However, although the author's dreams shattered, "in the dark, he did not know, feeling feverish and having a headache," he "did not want to pass on the loneliness he believed to be his own to young people who were also dreaming as he had in his youth" (From the Preface to A Call to Arms), so later he says: "Come, come! The dream of tomorrow." This gives the poem a bright ending. P32-33