Wu Zhongjie Comments on Lu Xun's Letters (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Wu Zhongjie (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: The author believes that while Lu Xun's letters do contain some routine content, they should by no means be regarded as trivial or insignificant personal records. Reading these letters "allows us to gain a detailed understanding of Lu Xun's thoughts and mindset, which is very beneficial for understanding him and evaluating his works." "If we read Lu Xun's letters alongside his novels and essays, we can also see how life inspired him and how it further shaped the themes of his works." Therefore, the author carefully selected from the existing 1,455 letters those that best reflect Lu Xun's thoughts, character, and the "sensitive, passionate, persistent, and serious" aspects of his personality. With his accumulated professional expertise, especially his profound understanding of human nature and the world, he provides annotations to these genuine confessions—"which are both his flaws and his strengths"—and thus how they brought him "endless suffering but also generated continuous literary inspiration." If his true intentions were not fully expressed elsewhere, they are fully revealed in his correspondence, and these are what Professor Wu refuses to overlook. Even if, for various reasons, some of them have been altered or edited by the author himself or others, he insists on listing the original text to preserve historical accuracy. This allows us to gain a more authentic and comprehensive understanding of Lu Xun, a "rounded" rather than "flat" living great figure.