<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" > this article is transferred from: University Humanities</h1>
<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" > Qian Liqun: The real Lu Xun is silent</h1>
Lu Xun (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936)
Article excerpted from Qian Liqun's Fifteen Lectures on Lu Xun's Works (Peking University Press)
Today, I would like to discuss a question with you: Everyone says that Lu Xun's work is difficult to understand, but where is it difficult to understand? There is a saying that the text of Lu Xun's work is difficult to understand, or that the background of its writing is not clear. This problem is actually quite easy to solve. There are many more works on Lu Xun than there are now lu xun's works. You can find a copy of it, and it will introduce you to the social background and related knowledge. I think the difficulty lies in what Lu Xun is thinking and what is he talking about? It's very difficult to know what he really means.
Lu Xun himself once said: "What I think is different from what I write" "I write for myself and for others are not the same." "It's very troublesome. So, how do we know what he himself means? Lu Xun himself had an explanation. He said that many people said that I was telling the truth, but I did not say exactly what I wanted to say; many people said that I was cold, the first was cold, the second was cold, and the third was cold. If, one day, I say what I want to say in my heart, the darkest, the saddest, the most terrible, and the words that one person is willing to listen to, then that person is my true friend.
Before his death in 1936, Lu Xun wrote an article titled "I Want to Deceive People." He told the story: One winter morning, "I" walked out of the house and met a little girl who had come to collect money for the victims. At that time, it was under the corrupt rule of the Kuomintang, so Lu Xun knew very well that the money raised by this little girl could not fall into the hands of the victims, and her fundraising was completely meaningless. But in the face of this enthusiastic, innocent child, can you tell her that there is no point in her doing this? No. Not only can you not say it, but you must also say to her: "Little child, you are very valuable in your work, and I will definitely support you." So Lu Xun took the girl's hand, walked to a store, exchanged the big money for the small money, and then handed the small money to the little girl. The little girl held Lu Xun's hand tightly and said, Sir, you are so good, on behalf of all the victims, I would like to thank you. Lu Xun watched this little girl go farther and farther away, and he could still feel the warmth of this little girl's hand on his hand, but it was this warmth that burned Lu Xun's heart like fire, because he had deceived this child. But Lu Xun thought in turn, can I not deceive this child? Can I not lie? He then thought, is today's China the time when Phi Li is real? Can we tell us all our true thoughts? No. So "I'm going to lie".
I don't know what you think after hearing this story. To be honest, every time I see this article, I am shocked. I think it is difficult for a person to tell the truth, but it takes more courage to face up to the dilemma of having to tell lies all the time like Lu Xun. Each of us is faced with such a dilemma at all times, but who dares to face up to such a deep dilemma as Lu Xun's desire to tell the truth, but cannot but tell lies and deceive people?
Lu Xun said he wrote for three kinds of people. One is those who struggle hard for China's independence, freedom, democracy, equality, prosperity and strength. One is the youth who are dreaming well. He wants to cheer for these people. The third kind of writing object is very special, Lu Xun said, I write for my enemies. Since it is written for the enemy, we must not say too much about the pain in our hearts, and we must not show the pain in front of the enemy. Therefore, he must be shielded. That is to say, Lu Xun's works are like icebergs, some surfaced, but there are more things hidden underneath, and his meaning is expressed between emerging and concealment. And fundamentally, a person's thoughts, especially a unique life experience of his own, cannot be expressed in words. Once expressed in words, the idea is simplified and may even be misinterpreted. So Lu Xun said, "When I am silent, I feel full; I will open my mouth, and at the same time I feel empty." "The real Lu Xun is silent, and the silent Lu Xun is the real one."
Today, lu xun's works, which people talk about the most and read the most, such as "Scream" and "Wandering", as well as most essays, are basically written for others. What really wrote for himself, Lu Xun explained very clearly, was "Wild Grass".
Prints of "Weeds", works by Zhao Yannian
Lu Xun said that "Wild Grass" contains my philosophy, and he said that "Wild Grass" belongs to me. He did not want the youth to look at his "Weeds", which was something that belonged entirely to him personally, a work that had Lu Xun's personality and belonged most to Lu Xun's personal discourse. Lu Xun's "Wild Grass" becomes a window for us to get close to Lu Xun's soul, or provide a way. Of course, even "Weeds" is still somewhat obscured, but it is a little less covered than other works.
First, "Weeds" is a prose poem. Poetry is difficult to tell, poetry can only be understood; poetry is ambiguous, and you must understand it. Second, Lu Xun's philosophy is very rich and complex. Lu Xun himself said that there are two kinds of ideas that are constantly rising and falling, one is humanitarian thought and the other is individualistic thought. What issues does Weeds focus on? It is a question of discussing life as an individual, its deep predicament. Therefore, "Wild Grass" has certain limits, and it shows one aspect of Lu Xun's philosophy, not all of it.
▍ Face the dilemma of life
People tend to see fire as a symbol of life. But Lu Xun imagined "dead fire", and he juxtaposed "death" and "life" to discuss. The image of "dead fire" he proposes concentrates both the meanings of life and death.
First, let's talk about the first aspect. Lu Xun placed individual life in such a historical vertical coordinate from the past to the present to the future, to examine the survival dilemma of human individual life. For example, for the future, human beings have all kinds of fantasies, the Western world has utopias, and the Chinese world has unity, all of which belong to people's imagination of the future. People always imagine that the future is an end point of infinite perfection, perfection, no contradictions, and no struggles, which Lu Xun summed up as an imagination about the "golden world".
In this regard, Lu Xun raised a question: If one day he really arrived in the golden world, would there be darkness? Lu Xun replied that there are, not only will there be, but there will also be new deaths. Why? Lu Xun made a very simple truth, saying that people are always like this: those who were once generous want to be retro, those who are being generous want to maintain the status quo, and those who have not yet been generous want to reform; this was so in the past, so it is now, and it will always be so. Of course, the concept of "magnanimity" in the golden world may not be the same as today, but at that time there were still people who had been magnanimous, were exuberant, and had not yet been magnanimous. In the general view, it seems that the golden world is a world without contradictions and struggles, but Lu Xun saw new contradictions, new struggles, and even new deaths. This is what the Weeds Tomb Text calls "seeing the abyss in heaven." People see the place of heaven, and Lu Xun sees the abyss. From this, Lu Xun came to a very important philosophical conclusion: "There is no such thing as the most perfect and perfect." "The future of perfection is a myth created by human beings for themselves. Lu Xun's task is to smash this myth, and many articles in "Wild Grass" are to smash this myth.
In "Weeds", Lu Xun devotes a great deal of space to shaping many literary images that symbolize the deep plight of certain aspects of humanity. Here I would like to give a few examples. "Dead Fire" is an article with Lu Xun's imagination. Humans have all kinds of imaginations about fire, and in general, people regard fire as a symbol of life. But Lu Xun imagined "dead fire", which concentrated the two meanings of life and death. We see how he develops a unique imagination. He said, I dreamed, I dreamed that I was running between the peaks, running and running, and suddenly fell from the peak of the mountain into the ice valley, and looked down, a blue-white, and this blue-white was the color of death. But in the midst of a bluish-white color, I suddenly saw a lot of coral-like red shadows. Among the colors of death appear the colors of life, which is the fire of death. So there was a philosophical discussion between me and DeadFire. Death Fire said to me: Sir, please hurry up and save me, or I will freeze out. I said okay, and I'll take you out of the ice valley. DeadFire said again, You take me out of the ice valley, and I will burn it out. I can only choose between "freeze out" and "burn out".
Photo by Rene Böhmer on Unsplash
What does this mean? This is a difficult point we encounter in studying Lu Xun's "Wild Grass and Dead Fire". Later, my mentor, Mr. Wang Yao, inspired me. Mr. Wang was exactly seventy years old that year. He now faces a dilemma, he said: either do nothing, which is called "sit still"; or "exert the residual heat" and work hard, as everyone advertises, but this is nothing more than a "dying struggle". I can only choose between "sitting still" and "dying." How do you say? At that time, as soon as I listened, I immediately remembered Lu Xun's "Dead Fire". "Freezing" means "sitting still"; "burning out" means "dying and struggling". Although death awaits everyone in the end, is there a difference between "burned out" and "frozen out"? There is a difference. This freezes, he does nothing all his life, his life has no light and shadow at any time, this is an empty shell of life. Although this burn is finished, although it is also finished in the end, the moment he burns is brilliant, and his life is full. This is actually a philosophy of life, that is, the value of life is not in the result, but in the process. The result is the same for everyone, but the process is different. The process of your struggle, the life you struggle with, the life of hard work, is fulfilling and valuable. And that wasted, idle life is empty, meaningless, empty shell of life. It's like the Olympic spirit, it's about participation. This is the philosophy of Lu Xun's "Weeds", which reflects Lu Xun's philosophy of life that attaches importance to process rather than result. This proposition of "freezing" and "burning out" actually tells us that man's self-selection, the extreme finiteness of self-realization, is extreme. You cannot think of the possibility of man's choice, man is to make a very limited choice between freezing and burning. But after all, there is still room for choice, so Mr. Wang Yao said to me, instead of sitting still, it is better to die and struggle, because dying struggle has a kind of struggle beauty.
There is also a "Farewell of the Shadow" in "Weeds". As we all know, the physical characteristic of the shadow is that when the noonday sun shines directly, or when it is completely dark, the shadow is gone, and the shadow can only exist between light and dark. Lu Xun used this shadow image to symbolize the historical fate of such a "historical intermediary" as himself. What does "historical intermediary" mean? Lu Xun said that he wanted to resist the darkness and make trouble with the darkness. Of course, it is not compatible with darkness, so when darkness comes, such a shadow will die. At the same time, the meaning of the historical intermediate is only to stir up trouble with the darkness, and the value of his life is closely linked to the darkness, and it is realized in the rebellion against the darkness, so when the darkness really disappears and the light really comes, the value of this historical intermediate is gone, and the shadow will also die. Therefore, a historical intermediary like Lu Xun, he not only has no place in the darkness, but also has no place in the light, he cannot find his own foothold, he can only wander into the landless. These four words, "wandering without land," actually speak to the deep plight of intellectuals.
Approaching Shadow, by Ho Fan
The third example is "Passers-by". The "passer-by" kept walking forward, and halfway through he met an old man, who asked three questions: First, what is your name and who are you? Second, where did you come from? Third, where are you going? His answer was: I don't know. I do not know. I do not know. How did an individual's life come into this world and how did it leave? You are thrown onto this earth by a force that you cannot grasp, and then you are taken away by a force that you cannot grasp, and this is not in your grasp. This is the absurdity, darkness and tragedy of man's existence. And so on, which is a deep dilemma for the survival of man's reality. Lu Xun's purpose is to make people face up to such a deep dilemma and lead to his realist philosophy. Lu Xun opposed three things. First, he was opposed to "absolute." Absolute and perfect things do not exist, and the history, society, humanity, and reality of the world on this side of man are all flawed. Second, he was opposed to "completely". There is no such thing as a complete, ill-free life. The history, reality, life, and human nature of the world on this shore are all biased. Third, he was opposed to "permanent". Eternal life, eternal humanity, is short-lived. He emphasized the imperfections, flaws and transience of human existence itself, reality itself, and history itself. He wants us to face up to the reality of such a world on this shore. When we talk about Lu Xun's sober spirit of realism, it is precisely in this regard that we speak. He stressed that firmly grasping the "present" and "now" is one of Lu Xun's most basic propositions.
▍ Philosophical people who rebel against despair
The philosophy of resisting despair contains two aspects: one side is to break all illusions, break all myths, and soberly face all the existing dilemmas in reality; the other side is to adopt a positive and enterprising attitude towards life.
Now we will talk about how Lu Xun examines horizontally the relationship between the human self and the other. The other can be summed up in three categories: the enemy, the lover of us, and the masses.
Let's start with the enemy. This is a very broad concept, that is, you have to do something that creates resistance to you. There is an article in "Weeds" "Such a Warrior", he said that this warrior, picked up the throwing gun, threw it at his enemy, obviously there was an enemy in front of him, but when he threw the throwing gun over, the enemy disappeared and became an "array of nothing". In general, we fight wars in a posture, and the enemy and our camps are clearly distinguished, which is a traditional war. In modern warfare, the enemy cannot find but exists, which is called the array of nothingness. This array of nothingness is more terrifying than the array of things, just like our Chinese legend of "ghosts hitting the wall", you walk into the wilderness in the middle of the night, there are ghosts in front of you, punch past, the ghosts are gone. It's like doing a thing, there are many obstacles, your things can't be done, but you can't find the reason, can't find where the resistance against you is.
What are the characteristics of the Array of Nothingness? First of all, the Array of Nothingness is actually a trick played by your enemies, or a means for those who oppose reform. Generally speaking, when I'm going to do something, put forward an innovative initiative, the person who opposes you is going to use his power to suppress you. If he can't suppress it, he must change his face. Actually he's against you, but he nods and smiles at you. Secondly, the Array of Nothingness is actually the habitual force formed over thousands of years, the habitual force of millions of people, which is the most terrifying. Lu Xun called them "a murderous group without a master's name and an unconscious." On the one hand it wants to kill and hinder you; on the other hand, it has no name, and it is not deliberate, even motivated by good intentions, to oppose you. Lu Xun said that the terrible thing is that it is ambiguous and ambiguous, and the so-called "things come out for a reason, and there is no evidence", you can't do anything.
Lu Xun talked about the second issue, which is the relationship with those who love me. "The one who loves me" is also a very broad concept. Fathers, mothers, teachers, classmates, friends, siblings, etc., are all people who love me. So is it that those who love me can always give me soul comfort and peace? Not necessarily. Lu Xun put forward a proposition in "Passerby" called "Cursing the Death of Those Who Love Me". This is a very puzzling proposition. How to understand it? Lu Xun gave an example. He said I had an eighty-year-old mother who loved me very much and cared about my every move at all times; and when I wanted to do something dangerous as I wished, I would not hesitate to do it without a mother. But because of my mother, with her love for me, when I do this dangerous thing, I will think that if I will cause pain to my mother by doing this, I will not be able to do what I want to do freely according to my wishes.
Here he makes a very important proposition, that is, when a warrior or an individual wants to attain absolute freedom of thought and action, this warmth of the lover often hinders his independent freedom of thought and action. Therefore, Lu Xun came to the conclusion that the independent freedom of human thought and action is often easily frustrated in love. Love can certainly give you strength, but love will also become a constraint for you. When Lu Xun examines the relationship between himself and the one who loves me, he finds a contradiction: on the one hand, he longs for the love, understanding and warmth of the person who loves me; at the same time, he is afraid and even rejects such a love. The desire for love and the rejection of love constitute the dilemma of the life of an intellectual with a strong independent free will like Lu Xun.
The third aspect is the relationship between the self and the masses. Lu Xun has a highly generalized version of the Masses in China, called "Spectators of Drama." He gave an example and said, we might as well do an experiment, for example, if you run to the street, you spit on the ground, if you crouch down to see the phlegm, in less than ten minutes, you will be surrounded by a dense crowd of people, probably watching, looking at others, and being watched by others at the same time. This is a phenomenon that can be seen everywhere in China, and this is the phenomenon of "spectators" that is unique to China.
As another kind of person who is watched, just like Xia Yu in "Medicine". They fought and sacrificed with their own ideals, and as a result, in "Medicine", they were transformed into the materials discussed in the teahouse. That is to say, such Chinese heroes and benevolent people, whose ideals and loftiness, have been transformed into a kind of performance in the spectator phenomenon, thus losing their meaning and value.
When Lu Xun discusses the relationship between the self and the other, he sees a terrible dissolving force of the array of nothingness, he sees the dissolving power that the lover of me may produce, and he sees the dissolving power that the masses may produce as spectators of the drama. He came to a very desperate conclusion. So we say that Lu Xun was very desperate in his heart. But when a person despairs to the peak, he will have a great realization, which is what Lu Xun called "salvation in hopelessness" and "despair is vain, just like hope." Many things are disappointed because your original hopes were too great. So at the beginning, you see through all the problems, think through them, and you don't despair. This is called "salvation in hopelessness." Despair in the end, becomes a great enlightenment. The so-called great enlightenment is to see through the limitations and limitations of life and social history, and to see through the limitations of self-choice. After the enlightenment, people may also have two attitudes. One attitude is: Since everything is like this, I see through it, then I will do nothing, and I know that I cannot do it and not do it. There is also an attitude that we know that we cannot do it, that there is a grave in front of us, but we must try to move forward, to resist, to struggle. Therefore, Lu Xun's philosophy is to "resist despair."
This philosophy of rebellion against despair actually has two sides. One side is to see through everything, to be fully enlightened, or to say that it is a sober spirit of realism. Breaking all illusions, breaking all myths, and soberly facing all the existing dilemmas of existence in reality is the sober spirit and attitude of realism that breaks all concealment and deception. Another aspect is to adopt a positive and enterprising attitude towards life. To some extent, such a philosophy of rebellion against despair is a high degree of integration of the Taoist and Buddhist enlightenment of traditional Chinese philosophy and the Confucian "knowing what cannot be done" under the new historical conditions. In my opinion, such a philosophy of life characterized by a sober spirit of realism and a positive and enterprising attitude towards life is the core of Lu Xun's philosophy and a very important spiritual legacy left by China in the 20th century.