Lu Xun (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was a famous writer and thinker in modern China, and a warrior who fought with his pen. Chairman Mao once spoke highly of Lu Xun, "The direction of Lu Xun is the direction of the new culture of the Chinese nation." Lu Xun left too many classic works in his life, and he was also selected into textbooks because of many works, known as "a brother of teaching materials".
Liang Shiqiu (January 6, 1903 – November 3, 1987) was a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, who was a modern Chinese essayist, scholar, literary critic, and translator. Liang Shiqiu holds a Master of Arts degree from Harvard University, and he left more than 20 million words of writings in his lifetime.
Logically, Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu are half fellow villagers, and both of them eat with a pen, and there is no deep hatred. In fact, Lu Xun's biggest enemy in life was Liang Shiqiu, Lu Xun never scolded people politely, and the level of scolding was very high, and many people lost the battle. When it came to Liang Shiqiu, it seemed to be invalid. In the literary circles of the Republic of China, the 9-year-long controversy between Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu has become "a beautiful landscape", which can be called the first polemic in modern history.
The so-called polemic, in layman's terms, is mutual intimidation, similar to the covenant battle in the martial arts world, except that the weapon is just an article. However, in the course of the controversy, the two men's pens erupted into an astonishing battle, "one like a dagger and a gun, and the other like a spear swinging at the Heavenly Gate Array", the fierceness of the words and the fierceness of the firepower are rare in the history of Chinese literature.
The controversy between Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu began with an article. In September 1929, Liang Shiqiu published an article in the New Moon magazine entitled "On Mr. Lu Xun's 'Hard Translation'". In his article, Liang Shiqiu questioned Lu Xun's translation level, believing that he was a "hard translation" and a "dead translation", and said that "strange syntax, reading is equal to not reading", and what he said was very direct. The two liangzi was formed here, and then Lu Xun posted a reply in the "Bud Monthly".
When Liang Shiqiu was studying at Harvard University, his supervisor was Professor of French literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, and literary and cultural critic Bai Bide. During his studies, Liang Shiqiu was inevitably influenced by Bai Bide, which gradually made his articles have a elitist brand. In 1930, Liang Shiqiu published an article entitled "Is Literature Class-Oriented", and Lu Xun directly opened his eyes after reading it.
In response to Liang Shiqiu's article, Lu Xun wrote "'Lost Family' and "Capitalist Lack of Running Dogs"" to refute Liang Shiqiu in an all-round way. Lu Xun wrote: "The great running dog, although it may be raised by a capitalist, actually belongs to all capitalists, so it meets all the broad people who are tamed, and all the poor people bark wildly. Not knowing who is its master is precisely the reason why it meets all the broad-minded people, that is, the evidence that belongs to all capitalists. ”
The word "lackey" is used, which shows the fierceness of the two men's arguments. The controversy between Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu lasted until Lu Xun's death for 8 years, for which many classic articles appeared. However, we find that Liang Shiqiu did not say a bad word about Lu Xun after Lu Xun's death. Liang Shiqiu's daughter Liang Wenqi gave the answer, "There is no hatred between my father and Lu Xun, but the two people have different views on a problem, in fact, he still appreciates Lu Xun's literature." ”
Liang Wenqiu was right, Liang Shiqiu actually admired Lu Xun's works. At that time, the Taiwan authorities wanted to list Lu Xun's books as banned books, but Liang Shiqiu did not approve of it. Liang Shiqiu's original words were like this: "I personally do not approve of his works being listed as banned books. One of Voltaire's most convincing words in my life: 'I do not approve of what you say, but I desperately support the freedom to say what you say.' I did the same to Lu Xun. ”
Reference: The Controversy between Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu