Lu Xun - unconscious existentialism

Keizo Yamada

Lu Xun did not know "existential philosophy", and he had nothing to do with the "existentialism" in Western European philosophy. In his youth, he was obsessed with Nietzsche, but it was only a unique understanding of nihilism, which even contained elements that contradicted the real Nietzscheism. Nevertheless, if one humbly reads Lu Xun's works, one will find that the fact that he has "existential thinking" is beyond doubt. Literature or ideas were not formed after they had been systematized and named by writers and philosophers. Lu Xun's literature and ideas were forged by Lu Xun himself. In the case of Lu Xun, the result is an "existentialism."

　　Revolution and literature

　　In pre-19th century China, dynastic changes that lasted for more than two thousand years became the norm. The 19th century can be said to be a turning point in history. On the one hand, the external pressure from the Western European powers, and on the other hand, from the inherent elements of complex nationalism that existed in the country before, an opportunity for a new regime arose, albeit a bumpy process. And Sun Wen and Lu Xun symbolize the revolutionaries of an era.

　　Born in 1866, Sun Wen and Lu Xun, born 15 years later, each regarded the founding of New China and the cultivation of people as their life's work, and they were working hard for it throughout their respective careers. Both studied medicine in their youth and took this as their starting point. Sun Wen engaged in a practical revolutionary movement, while Lu Xun tried to use literature to transform the national spirit.

　　Although very short-lived, they all had a period of unquestioning the reform ideas of the reform movement modeled after the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Sun Wen worked on an armed uprising to establish a republic with a Han chinese majority before the end of the 19th century, and Lu Xun studied in Japan in the early 20th century, and soon resonated with the patriotic republican revolution aimed at overthrowing the Manchu regime.

　　In 1895, Sun Wen failed in his uprising in Guangzhou and became an exile. He traveled all over the world, including Japan, to engage in revolutionary causes, and although he repeatedly faced danger to his life, he still did not give up his ideals and enthusiasm for the founding of the country. Conceived of a dangerous cause at the cost of his life, Sun Wen faced the danger of death several times through the disaster in London (1896) (1) (1) and the crisis caused by the warlord Chen Jiongming's rebellion (1922). But he miraculously got out of the crisis every time, and never gave up his ideals until his death. As a man of practical activity, although he sometimes needed to compromise with reality, in terms of his spirit, he was worthy of the title of revolutionary all his life.

　　On the contrary, Lu Xun never participated in the revolution in the true sense of the word in his entire career, nor did he have a blueprint for the founding of the country, but he always paid attention to the revolution from Sun Wen to Mao Zedong, and constantly asked the question of how to cultivate revolutionaries. Therefore, Lu Xun, as a spiritual revolutionary, participated in the shaping of the soul.

　　For Lu Xun, literature is useless in real life, and it is the "product of surplus" that has nothing to do with applied science (Lu Xun's "Literature in the Revolutionary Era"). At the same time, he also believes that it is this ineffectiveness and lack of connection that makes it possible for literature to act on the spirit. And he believed that revolution and literature were consistent in the sense of "insecurity with the status quo.". In his lecture entitled "The Wrong Path between Literature and Art and Politics," he talked about the relationship between literature and revolution and politics.

　　I always feel that literature and art and politics are in constant conflict; literature and art and revolution are not opposites, but rather the same as the status quo. But politics is to maintain the status quo, and nature and literature and art that are uneasy with the status quo are in different directions. ...... Politics wants to maintain the status quo and unify it, and literature and art urge social evolution to gradually separate it; although literature and art divide society, society progresses in this way.

　　As a result, literary scholars were suppressed by politicians as stumbling blocks, but Lu Xun said that "literary artists themselves come to make plays for others to see, or tie them up and behead them, or recently shoot at the foot of the wall", and "literary artists are beaten with their own skin and flesh". The literary view that Lu Xun speaks of here is exactly the same as that of the Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's Grass Pillow, who says that "poets have an obligation, that is, to dissect their own corpses with their own hands and then tell the world about their illness." However, in terms of connection with society, there is still a considerable distance between Lu Xun's views and Natsume Shushi.

　II. "Wrong Way" and "Poor Way"

　　People are often forced to make choices on various occasions in life, when the question of which of several possibilities concerns one's values, in the absence of any pre-prepared guide to life, must be held accountable for the choices one makes regardless of the outcome. Adherents of the existential philosophy of not acknowledging existentia before existentia, while free, have to bear loneliness and restlessness, as well as endless doubt and despair.

　　In his youth, Lu Xun believed in Kang Youwei's self-improvement, and after studying in Japan, he pinned his ideals on the racial revolution of Zhang Taiyan and Sun Wen, and resonated with the theory of evolution after the May Fourth New Culture Movement. But compared with these ideas of social reform, he tried to find the original value in these human spirits that bore them. From this standpoint, he often took the chestnut in the fire. And this attitude is, in a fundamental sense, typical existentialism.

　　Existentialism was established in the German intellectual circles in the 1930s and was only transplanted to France in the 1940s, and there is no trace that existentialism spread to China in the era of Lu Xun's life. Not only that, but in the Chinese cultural circles at that time, the word "actual existence" could not even be found. (2) However, Lu Xun was fascinated by Nietzsche in the late years of his study abroad, and although there is a considerable gap between the Nietzsche he accepted and the original Nietzscheism, it can also be reluctantly inferred that he had an existential tendency to think from his youth.

　　The philosophy of life does not acquire its status after it has been systematized and defined. It existed in the depths of each person's heart before it was named by philosophers and constructed as a thought. Lu Xun did not begin to think about the existentialist way after learning existentialism, he had witnessed many setbacks in social reforms before the universal and inevitable essential existence before he had acknowledged that the existence of reality preceded the universal and inevitable essence, and there was a belief in his soul that China could not rise from the dead without the transformation of national nature. It can be argued that under the domination of this belief, Lu Xun moved towards existentialism in his way of thinking.

　　In other words, Lu Xun did not proceed from a philosophical position of a realistic existence that had been theorized by European philosophers, but alone developed an existential way of thinking, which was vividly expressed in his non-creative articles. For example, there is the following passage in the Book of Two Places:

　　I often think that only "darkness and nothingness" are "real", but I prefer to fight desperately against these, so there are many extreme voices. (Fourth Letter)

　　In the second letter of the Book of Two Places, Lu Xun replied to Xu Guangping's question:

　　Taking the long distance of life, there are two major difficulties that are most likely to be encountered. The first is the "wrong way", if it is Mr. Mo Qu, it is said that he returned from weeping. But I did not cry or return, but sat down at the wrong end of the road, rested for a while, or slept, so I chose a path that seemed to be walkable, and if I met an honest man, I might take his food to fill his hunger, but I did not ask for directions, because I was sure that he did not know. The second is the "poor way", I heard that Mr. Ruan Zhi also cried back, but I also stepped in like the way I did on the wrong road, and walked away in the thorn bush.

　　These articles were written in 1925, the same period when Lu Xun wrote his second collection of works, "Wandering", and the collection of prose poems, "Wild Grass". With the trend of the times, Lu Xun experienced the era of "screaming" from the climax of the May Fourth New Culture Movement to the "wandering" era after the downturn of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, and named his collection of works with this mood.

　　After that, he left Beijing and traveled from Xiamen to Guangdong, arriving in Shanghai in October 1928, where he met criticism from "revolutionary literature" scholars. As a result, Lu Xun got rid of the "bias of only believing in evolution."

　　One thing I have to thank the Creation Society is that they "squeezed" me to read several scientific literary and artistic theories, and understood that the previous literary historians said a lot of questions, or were they entangled. And thus translated a copy of Pulikhanov's Treatise on Art in order to correct the bias of the only belief in evolution that I, because of me, and others. (Preface to the Three Idle Episodes)

　　In the same article, Lu Xun also mentioned

　　I have always believed in the theory of evolution, always thinking that the future will be better than the past, the youth will be better than the old, for the youth, I have no time to respect, often give me ten knives, I only return him an arrow. But then I realized that I was wrong.

　　This is an article written by Lu Xun in a slightly self-deprecating tone, and he recalls that when he faced the criticism of the flesh-and-blood young Marxists, he also began to study Marxist literary and artistic theory, and as a result, he got rid of the "theory of evolution". But even after that, Lu Xun did not mention the ideological position he had thus reached.

　　Although in his later years, Lu Xun engaged in a fierce debate with the members of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, headed by Zhou Yang, over the issue of national defense literature and the dissolution of the Chinese Left-Wing Writers' Union, on the other hand, he supported "the policy of the anti-Japanese united front proposed to the people of the whole country by China's current revolutionary party (the Chinese Communist Party - this author's note)" and declared that he would "join this front unconditionally." (3) Lu Xun's attitude is difficult to understand, and it has caused many misunderstandings. However, trying to understand Lu Xun from a fixed ideology will only be strongly rejected by Lu Xun himself.

Third, wandering passers-by

　　Lu Xun's works in the form of drama have two (4), one of which is the middle-aged traveler in "Passerby", which pins on the author's wandering state of mind during the "May Fourth Ebb and Flow Period". The old man, the girl and the passer-by in the work each represent the past, the future and the present.

　　Passers-by who didn't know where they were going and where they were going are now heading "ahead." For the elderly, the "front" is the "grave", and for the girl, it is a beautiful garden of "wild lilies and wild roses". Passers-by didn't even know his name, he was "thirsty to walk" and "broke his foot", but he continued to walk forward. The old man advised him that "it would be better to turn around", but he replied, "I have to go". For, even if you "go back there," you will not find a place where there is "no name," "no landlord," "no expulsion and cage," "no leathery smile," and "no extraorbital tears."

　　The passer-by, who hated all this, resolutely refused to turn around, saying "I had to go" and "the voice in front of me told me to go." But the foot was already broken, "there were many wounds, a lot of blood," he said, "I'm going to drink some blood." But where is the blood? But I don't want to drink anyone's blood. I had to drink some water to replenish my blood."

　　From the resolute persistence of this passerby, it can be seen that the true heart of Lu Xun, a traveler who did not bring a map, although he did not know where to go, he had to move forward. Although I want to drink some blood to replenish my strength, I don't want to sacrifice others because of it. Passers-by don't know where the destination is, but they are still determined to move forward. Lu Xun expressed his heart in this article: Even if there is no road sign, there is only the possibility of self-existence to be thrown into the future.

　　The three characters in "Passerby" each represent the past, present, and future, and similar settings can be seen in the prose poetry collection "Weeds". "Autumn Night" describes the "little pink flowers" who dream that spring will come after winter, the "fallen leaves" who believe that "spring is still autumn" and the "jujube tree" that "silently stabs like a subway". "The Farewell of the Shadow" depicts wandering in the "landless" place where "dawn" and "dusk" meet. Between the "giver" and the "beggar", there is "I" who "is above the giver" and "gives annoyance, suspicion, and hatred" (the beggar); the "fool" who is hindered by the "wise man" and the "slave" ("The Wise Man and the Fool and the Slave"). In short, the existence of oscillating between the two poles is often a true portrayal of Lu Xun at this time.

　　Lu Xun, who edited the second collection of works" and the prose poem "Wild Grass", was a veritable wanderer with no rest. He was forced into loneliness, restlessness, and endless doubt and despair.

　　Having seen the Xinhai Revolution, seen the second revolution, seen Yuan Shikai called emperor, and Zhang Xun restored, when he looked at it, he saw that he was suspicious, so he was disappointed and very depressed. Nationalist writers said in a tabloid this year that "Lu Xun was suspicious" was good. (Lu Xun's "Self-Selected Collection and Self-Introduction", 1932)

　　During this period, he wrote in a letter to Xu Guangping: "Your rebellion is to hope for the arrival of the light. I thought, it must be so. But my rebellion is nothing more than a disturbance with darkness" (Letter XXIV of the Book of Two Lands). He spoke of his state of mind, saying he was in the middle of "the ups and downs of the two ideologies of humanism and individualism."

　　For such Lu Xun, "despair" is even a kind of "delusion", just like "hope" is "delusion". Without a guide, he had to go down. The section of "Leaving Sorrows", which Lu Xun uses in the inscription of "Wandering", "The road is long and its cultivation is far away, and I will seek up and down" clearly shows the feeling of a passerby who seems to be wandering in the night.

Fourth, unconscious existentialism

　　It is said that the earliest translation of german existentia into Japanese for "existence" (Chinese translation into existence) was when Keiji Nishitani translated Schelling's The Nature of Human Freedom (1927). Since then, although the nine ghosts have used the word "real existence" (5) in heidegger's commentary on existence and time (1933), these are abbreviations for "real existence". However, the philosophy of existentialism did not spread because of this, and this trend of thought spread around the world after the Second World War, and "existentialism" is a word that has nothing to do with Lu Xun, who died in 1936.

　　But philosophy did not emerge after it had been systematized by philosophers and fixed as an academic term. As long as people live, they are forced to make choices in all things, to think about their way of living, to create new values. For those who do not have established guidelines, or even those who are skeptical of existing ones, the space for free choice is thus more open.

　　But on the other hand, while the room for free choice expands, it will inevitably lead to responsibility and distress in the choice. According to Isaac, man is not formed from the beginning, but "in the process of choosing his own morality", and thus "punished by the punishment of creating human beings at all times without dependence and without help", "punished by the punishment of freedom". (6) Freedom is accompanied by responsibility, distress, insecurity, and loneliness.

　　As Lu Xun said, the way to survive to reach the realm of "wandering" is to only regard "darkness and nothingness" as "reality" and "fight desperately against these." Even he considered his thoughts "too dark." But even so, locked in the darkness where no exit could be found, he still could not rest, and "had to go" towards the front, even if the front was a grave, he "had to go", which was his way of survival. This is precisely how existentialists, who are sentenced to the "punishment of liberty," survive.

　　So, on what basis did Lu Xun use to resist the "darkness"? Is everything free, as the existentialists of Western Europe claim? Without any benchmarks, trying to plan for the possibility of self-existence for the future? Of course, this is not the case.

　　In Lu Xun's time in China, profound social problems and harsh everyday realities are simply unimaginable today. There are many people who do not even receive the minimum guarantee of survival as human beings. Lu Xun was distressed by this, and he struggled to find out how to change this reality.

　　As a result, he found that what he could do was to act on the human spirit through literature. Lu Xun has experienced many setbacks since his youth, so he almost despaired of the "national nature" of Chinese and everything he thought. Lu Xun saw Ah Q's "spiritual victory method" in his national nature and firmly believed that if this slavery was not eradicated, China could not be reborn. The "being" he saw was the "real being" from which he had to get rid of it. The writing activities of Lu Xun, whom I call the "enlighteners," were all accumulated for the purpose of transforming this national nature.

　　However, there was no guide prepared for it, and he doubted the "real existence" of all that was established. So, while the uneasiness and loneliness that arise from this place all make him despair, he will never allow himself to escape "despair." Because he believes that "despair is vain, just like hope."

　　So, how should we understand Lu Xun's itinerary after that? Qu Qiubai said that Lu Xun "eventually moved from the theory of evolution to the theory of class, from the enterprising individualism of striving for liberation to the collectivism of transforming the world by battle", and finally came to the conclusion that Lu Xun finally moved toward Marxism, and even there are still many opinions supporting this theory. However, Lu Xun never called himself a Marxist, and it is said that he did not even read Capital. ⑦

　　After the "Revolutionary Literary Controversy", Lu Xun read many books on Marxist literary and artistic theory, translated them into Chinese, and claimed to have studied more relevant literature than Marxists. However, there were different views on literary and artistic theory and literary and artistic policy, even within the Soviet Communist Party at that time, and Lu Xun had a unique understanding of this. (8) This attitude of Lu Xun is still extremely existential. This is not related to the systematic existential context in the history of Western European philosophy, and can only be called "unconscious existentialism" Lu Xun's thinking form.

　　P.S. The original text of this article is in Japanese, and Ms. Wei Wen, a master's degree graduate of the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies, undertook the translation of the Chinese manuscript, which was revised and revised by Teacher Qin Gang. I would like to express my sincere thanks to both of you.

　　【Notes】

　　(1) At that time (1896), Sun Wen, who was living in exile in London, was arrested and imprisoned by the Qing legation. The following year (1897), the Book of The Fallen was published in Bristol, England under the title "Kidnapped in London".

　　(2) According to Xie Zhixi's "The Persistence of Life: Existentialism and Modern Chinese Literature" (1999, People's Literature Publishing House), there are introductory articles on "existentialism" in Tsinghua Weekly (December 1934). But the concept and phrase "real existence" did not take root in the Chinese cultural circles of the time.

　　(3) Lu Xun: "Answering Xu Maoyong and the Question of the Anti-Japanese United Front" (August 1936). This article was originally published in August 1936 in the august 1936 issue of the monthly magazine Writers, Vol. 1, No. 5.

　　(4) In addition to "Passing By", "Rising and Dying" (which was not published in newspapers and periodicals before this article was included in the "New Compilation of Stories" (The Complete Works of Lu Xun, Vol. 2, Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2005).

　　(5) Shuzo Kuki: "The Philosophy of Heidegger 1 (Haidegga's Philosophy)" ("Kuki Shuzo Complete Works", 199th, Hara 1933 Iwanami Koza Philosophy, Iwanami Store).

　　(6) Sartre (Special): "What is existentialism?" (What is the Lord of Existence)", Humanities Academy 1955 edition, 32-33.

　　(7) In his letter to Yao Ke on November 15, 1933, Lu Xun wrote that Capital "not only did he not taste the fables, but he did not even touch his hands."

　　(8) The matter here is discussed in detail in the author's "Fire Thieves - Lu Xun and Marxism" (Keizo Yamada: "Lu Xun's World", Jinan: Shandong People's Publishing House, 1983 edition, pp. 195-233).