Grave

Author: Lu Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: This collection is likely composed of Lu Xun's early works. In 1907, he wrote articles such as "On the Power of the Marlowe Poets" and "On Cultural Bias," standing on the stance of revolutionary democracy and using the theory of evolution as his main weapon to fiercely criticize various reactionary ideologies, proposing political reforms for Chinese society. Many of the pieces are written in classical Chinese. The reason for compiling these stylistically distinct works into a book is, frankly, not very grand. First, I occasionally came across several articles written nearly two decades ago, which I wrote. Was it really me? I wondered. Upon closer examination, it seemed they were indeed my works. They were manuscripts sent to the journal Henan; the editor had a peculiar habit of favoring longer articles, as the higher the length, the more he paid. Thus, like "On the Power of the Marlowe Poets," they were almost arbitrarily extended. In these years, I probably wouldn’t have done that. I also enjoyed crafting obscure sentences and using archaic characters, influenced by the Minbao at the time; for the sake of typesetting convenience, I made some changes, but the rest remained as is. If these awkward pieces were someone else’s, I might advise them to "let go," but I still wanted to keep them. Moreover, I never followed the saying "At fifty, one learns the errors of forty-nine," nor did I believe that getting older made me wiser. The poets mentioned in these works are still forgotten today, which was another small reason why I couldn’t bring myself to discard the old manuscripts. Their names once filled me with passion, but after the establishment of the Republic, I forgot them—and yet, unexpectedly, they now appear before me again. Second, of course, there were still people who wanted to read them, but more importantly, there were those who detested my writings. Being disliked for what one says is still better than being ignored. There are many people in the world who are dissatisfied, yet some are single-mindedly creating a world that only comforts themselves. It’s not fair to let them get away with it, so I’ll give them a glimpse of something unpleasant to remind them that even their perfect world isn’t entirely flawless. The buzzing of flies is unaware of people’s hatred toward them, but I know it—and yet, as long as I can buzz, I must. Sometimes, even I find my own behavior repulsive. For example, my decision to abstain from alcohol and take cod liver oil to prolong my life was not entirely for my lover but mostly for my enemies—not to put it too delicately, my enemies—so they could see a few flaws in their ideal world. The disciples of the nobleman would say, "Why don’t you curse the bloodthirsty warlords?" That’s also cowardice! But I don’t want to fall for such manipulative tactics. The wood-skin traveler said it well, "After years of being cut by the soft knife, one doesn’t even notice death," and I intend to target those monsters who call themselves the "class without guns" but wield soft knives. For instance, the words of the nobleman I mentioned earlier are just such a soft knife. If they bring trouble upon me with their pens, do you think they’ll honor me as a martyr? No, then they’ll have a different set of words for you. If you don’t believe me, just look at how they comment on the youth who died in the March 18th massacre. As for myself, there’s one more small reason: this collection is, after all, a trace of life. So, even though I know the past is gone and the spirit cannot be chased back, I can’t be so absolute as to abandon the dross and build a small new tomb. It’s both a burial and a lingering. As for whether it will be leveled in the near future, I don’t care and have no way to care. I am deeply grateful to my friends for collecting, copying, and printing these works, spending countless irreplaceable hours on them. My only repayment is to hope that when this book is finally bound, it may earn each of them a genuine smile of satisfaction. Beyond that, I have no grand expectations. At most, I wish this book could rest temporarily on a bookshelf among others, just as the vast earth cannot refuse a small pebble. To go further would be too presumptuous. After all, the thoughts and tastes of the Chinese people have not yet been unified by the so-called noble gentlemen. Some adore imperial tombs, while others prefer to visit desolate graves. No matter how it is, there will likely still be people who won’t mind taking a look. If that’s the case, I will be extremely satisfied—satisfied no less than winning a thousand pieces of gold from a wealthy family. This collection includes twenty-three essays written by the author between 1907 and 1925. It was first published by the Beijing Wuming Press in March 1927 and revised by the author in March 1929 for its second printing. The third printing in April 1930 was published by the Shanghai Beishu Press. The author published a total of four editions during his lifetime.