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

Author: Jin Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Lu Xun's Breakthrough, Starting from a Reimagining of "Literature." Among figures like Lin Xijun, the so-called "literary production," the so-called "serious work," required that "forms must be '' (), bound by the 'constraints of literary production genres'; content must be avoided; 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, 'zawen' () sometimes resembled the work of a small microscope—it examined filth, observed pus, sometimes studied gonorrhea, and sometimes dissected flies. To scholars of high standing, it seemed trivial, filthy, and even detestable. But to the laborers themselves, it was also a 'serious work,' connected to life, and not particularly easy to do. Here, Lu Xun emphasized the rigor of the character of the zawen and the seriousness of the writer's creation. Behind the clash between the "small microscope" and the "grand astronomical observatory," Lu Xun was also using a deessentialized "literary" establishment to deconstruct the monopoly of Lin Xijun and others in defining "literature" based on Western "General Theory of Literature." Shi Zhecun, Du Heng, Lin Xijun, and others regarded the "artistic value," "serious work," and "heavy literary production" as self-evident, yet they were all products of historical construction. By dismantling the essential definition of literature, Lu Xun negated the dismissal and neglect of zawen by the genre hierarchy of "General Theory of Literature." Let's check the "General Theory of Literature" in the United States or lecture notes from any Chinese university—we indeed cannot find anything called "Tsa-wen." This truly makes young people aspiring to become great literary figures lose heart upon encountering zawen: it turns out that it is not the ladder to climb into the noble literary tower. Did Tolstoy consult the "General Theory of Literature" or lecture notes from some Chinese university before writing, understanding 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 zawen writers have none of them thought about the regulations of "General Theory of Literature" or aspired to a place in literary history. They believed it was necessary to write this way, and they did just that, because they knew that writing this way would benefit everyone. Lu Xun has always been critical of the seemingly dignified, elegant, and meticulous essentialist prescriptions of "General Theory of Literature" or "lecture notes from some university." Those who are relatively self-respecting are terrified by these grand-sounding titles and strive to escape. To escape fame is actually to love fame; they escape this mess of fame and refuse to be trapped in it. This line of thought, when applied to the confirmation of the zawen genre, is: I think if the palace of art has such troublesome regulations, it's better not to enter; rather, stand in the desert, watch the flying sand and stones, laugh heartily if joyful, scream if sorrowful, curse wildly if angry—even if the sand and gravel roughen your body, make you bleed from the head, and constantly stroke your clotted blood, feeling if there are patterns, it may 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 "heavy literary production," as well as the (mábì) (paralysis) caused by this pure literary "artistic value," leading to forgetting the "bloody path of survival," and even unintentionally becoming the lackeys of reactionaries. That mindset of "unwilling to be trapped in it" and "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 zawen lies in "immediately responding or resisting harmful things—it is the sensory 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 zawen writing, Mr. Zhang Xinying has already made very incisive arguments: Lu Xun could not abandon his zawen until the very end of his life, this type of writing intertwined with others' praise and criticism, consuming his vitality and spirit, this type of writing that is intimately connected with the (píngyōng) (mediocre), tedious, dirty, and even infuriating, disgusting, and despairing reality. The fundamental inner motivation for writing it all 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 the subject, and not an external driving force for the subject. P258-259