The Sages of the Humanities Society and Mr. Lu Xun
Text | Guo Juan
Editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief of New Literary Historical Materials
The origin of our People's Literature Publishing House and the Complete Works of Lu Xun can be traced back to president Feng Xuefeng's early intimate relationship with Mr. Lu Xun.
Feng Xuefeng, the first president of our company, is not only a figure in the history of literature, but also a figure in the history of the party and the military. When he was young, he was a "lakeside poet" with a gentle spring breeze, but he resolutely joined the party in 1927, a bloody rain, and he participated in the Long March and sat in the Prison of the Kuomintang in the Shangrao concentration camp; he met Lu Xun in 1928 and had a close relationship with Lu Xun, and Lu Xun had some heartfelt words to tell him. Xiao Hong had met him at Lu Xun's house, a mysterious figure who brought news about the Red Army. Feng Xuefeng took the party's task to Shanghai, secretly led the literary and art movement, promoted the unity of the literary and artistic circles, won Lu Xun's trust, and enhanced Lu Xun's understanding of the party and the Red Army. As early as in the Jiangxi Soviet District, he talked to Chairman Mao about Lu Xun at night. It can be said that he is the bridge between the party and Lu Xun.
In 1931, in order to protest the Kuomintang reactionaries' killing of Rou Shi and other five martyrs of the "Left League", Lu Xun, together with Feng Xuefeng and other Communists, compiled and printed "Outpost" (a special number to commemorate the war dead). Or take out the article that has been written from the desk, say how many words, then, how many words are missing, and let him write a little more. In this way, in the dark night of white terror, two stubborn and indomitable men united and threw their guns at the reactionary tyranny. Afterwards, the two excitedly took their respective families to the photo studio to commemorate this unusual cooperation. Passing through the test of blood and fire in this way can be described as the intersection of life and death.
On April 20, 1931, Lu Xun's family and Feng Xuefeng's family were photographed in Shanghai
Several important articles written by Lu Xun in his later years were drafted and drafted by Feng Xuefeng. Lu Xun's funeral was also organized by Feng Xuefeng under the command of the Shanghai underground party. Later, in 2003, the tomb of Feng Xuefeng and his wife was completed in his hometown of Yiwu, and Zhou Haiying, the son of Lu Xun, asked Premier Zhu Rongji to write an inscription for Xuefeng's tombstone, and he himself wrote an inscription for The tombstone of Mrs. Feng Xuefeng.
In 1931, Feng Xuefeng would leave Shanghai for the Soviet Union, and Lu Xun took a souvenir
Speaking of which, Wang Renshu (Ba Ren), the second president of the Humanities Society, is also associated with Lu Xun. In June 1936, he published an article in "Wishing Gorky and Lu Xun Health" in Li Bao, and Lu Xun saw it and praised Feng Xuefeng: "After reading Uncle Wang Ren's article... He said that Gorky's hatred was a great hatred; this sentence is true. Lu Xun's criticism and irony are not the anger of great justice--Lu Xun read Wang Renshu's understanding of himself. Wang Renshu revered Lu Xun, and founded "Lu Xun Feng" in 1939, in which he wrote: Lu Xun, such a great figure, "Today, we really have not found a second person." At that time, Lu Xun had already passed away for three years. At Lu Xun's memorial service, Wang Renshu participated in it and signed it; after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a large number of cultural people left Shanghai to go to the rear area, and he stayed in the "isolated island" to continue the struggle. He was one of the leaders of the publishing committee of the 1938 edition of the Complete Works of Lu Xun, and together with Zheng Zhenduo and Xu Guangping drafted the compilation plan of the complete works and undertook a large number of editing and proofreading work.
Xu Guangping, Ba Ren, Wang Kening, and Zhou Hainian (from left to right), photographed at the Beijing Hotel in 1949
After the founding of New China, the work of cultural construction was carried out in an all-round way. As the main general of the new cultural movement and representing the direction of new culture, Lu Xun's publication of his works has been highly valued by the government. At that time, Feng Xuefeng was appointed in Shanghai to preside over the work of the Lu Xun Works Compilation and Publication Agency, drafted the "Work Guidelines and Plans for the Compilation and Annotation of Lu Xun's Works", and quickly mobilized Yang Jiyun, Sun Yong, Lin Chen, Wang Shijing, and other well-known Lu Xun research experts in the country, specializing in the collection, collation, and annotation of Lu Xun's works.
These experts also have such and such connections with Lu Xun. For example, Sun Yong, who was a "letter inspector" at the post office, taught himself Esperanto and English, translated 6 poems by Lermontov, sent them to Mr. Lu Xun, Lu Xun quickly replied, and published 4 of them in his edited "Running Stream", which greatly encouraged this shy and introverted young man and made him more diligent in translation; he translated Pei Duofei's long poem "Brave John", Lu Xun thought that "the translation was excellent", published for him Zhang Luo, but repeatedly touched the nail in the bookseller, Lu Xun complained: "The bookstore is designed for profit, it is not good, This can make China have no good books" (May 4, 1931 to Sun Yong), which lasted for a year and a half, it was difficult to find a bookstore, and I regretted that the copperplate illustrations could not be printed in color for economic reasons, and had to print monochrome, and at the same time, I was anxious for the progress of publication: "China's work is really slow, if you print the complete Zola (Zola) collection, I am afraid it will take a hundred years." (October 5, 1931 to Sun Yong) Looking at Lu Xun's letter at that time, Lu Xun was heartbroken for this translation, he looked at proofs, advanced the plate making fee, considered the translation fee for the translator, stamp duty, and so on--such a small thing, is it something as great as Lu Xun should expend energy to do? Young Sun Yong must have thought about it countless times. Lu Xun did this in a practical way. He has always regarded translation as "stealing fire" and advocated "take-ism", which he did to Wei Suyuan before and Cao Jinghua later. He did this for the sake of China's progress and for the sake of later Chinese to be able to "live happily and behave reasonably."
Sun Yong (May 18, 1902 - October 3, 1983)
Lou Shiyi, deputy editor-in-chief and vice president of the Humanities Society, was a left-wing youth whom Lu Xun knew in the 1930s. In the autumn of 1933, he was kidnapped by agents for preparing for the Far East Anti-War Congress, sentenced to life, and imprisoned in Nanjing Prison. After Learning of this, Lu Xun sent a message to his friends: "Suitable brother suddenly seriously ill" and "suitable brother still exists", mobilizing celebrities Such as Cai Yuanpei and others to rescue ... Lou Shiyi contacted Lu Xun through his cousin, opened a long list of books, and prepared to study in prison, lu Xun tried to quickly fulfill his request, making him feel that he had become a "rich man". Lu Xun advised him: If you can't write it, translate it. He did translate Gorky's "In the Human World", "The Cultivation of Literature", Shiga Naoya's "Bonfire" and many other translations from Japan, and through secret channels, handed them over to Lu Xun and his friends to help publish them. Lu Xun praised his translation as good and not translated. Recalling the past in his later years, Lou Shiyi felt guilty for having carelessly toiled Mr. Lu Xun when he was young, and he will never forget the grace that Lu Xun gave him. Although he was in charge of foreign literature in the publishing house and did not directly engage in the publication of Lu Xun's works, he treated his work with the spirit of Lu Xun.
Lou Shiyi (1905.01.03 - 2001.04.20)
Nie Cyanzi, the deputy editor-in-chief in charge of classical literature, had close contacts with Lu Xun in the 1930s -- Lu Xun invited Xiao Jun and Xiao Hong, who had just arrived in Shanghai, to dinner, and introduced them to Mao Dun, Hu Feng, and others he trusted. Nie Cyan crossbow is a strange person, he does not trim the edges, not informal, but the big things are not confused. He entered the Whampoa Military Academy, went to the Soviet Union, went to Nanyang, studied in Japan, worked as a soldier, editor, and reporter, he threw himself into the left-wing literary and art movement, and his essays were beautifully written, and he was praised as the best person to write essays after Lu Xun. In the 1930s, he edited The Guide, and many of the articles in Lu Xun's miscellaneous essay collection Lace Literature were originally published in the Guide. Later, Lu Xun ran "Haiyan", Nie Cyan crossbow and Hu Feng were his right and left arms, and several essays by Lu Xun in his later years were also published on it. Lu Xun died, and Nie Shuyi was one of the coffin supporters. Although President Xuefeng later arranged for him to be in charge of the publication of classical literature, he was consistent in the inheritance of Lu Xun's spirit. In his later years, he was well-known at home and abroad for writing old-style poems, "a hill field has several remains of the ear, five-in-one rice needs a thousand bends", "the article is easy to say, and the thought is difficult to confess"... These strange verses, included in the publication of "Scattered Yisheng Poems", are known as the best songs of eternity, and have won the essence of Lu Xun's poetry.
Nie Cyan (January 28, 1903 – March 26, 1986)
It seems that the ancestors of the Humanistic Society have such a close relationship with Mr. Lu Xun, and it seems that it is destined that the publication of the "Complete Works of Lu Xun" is the mission of the Humanistic Society; and the inheritance of the spirit of Lu Xun by the sages must also have cast the style and temperament of the Humanistic Society.
Lu Xun's spiritual strength and personality charm inspired and inspired generations of Chinese, and people eagerly approached him, drew wisdom and courage, and spread his ideas--editing and publishing his works and serving the editing and publication of the Complete Works of Lu Xun is a matter of great honor for generations of editors.
Sun Yong was the first to proofread all of Lu Xun's works. Check it word by word with the author's manuscript or the newspapers and periodicals at the time of its initial publication to ensure an accurate presentation of Lu Xun's work.
Although Lu Xun was humble and did not attach much importance to his own poems, it was precisely because there were people like Yang Jiyun who persistently searched for Lu Xun's words that Lu Xun's "Collection of Collected Remains supplements" would be more complete.
The quality of a "Complete Collection" mainly depends on three points: first, whether the article is complete, second, whether the text is accurate, and third, whether there are annotations and precise annotations.
2005 Edition of The Complete Works of Lu Xun (18 volumes)
In order to enable the vast number of readers to understand Lu Xun's original works and understand their ideological connotations, it is very necessary to annotate and undo as much as possible the background of Lu Xun's works, the ancient and modern figures involved, historical events, as well as associations, books, newspapers and periodicals, and even allusions, famous objects, dialects and local languages, citation sources, etc., as much as possible, but the annotation work is very arduous. Lin Chen and Wang Shijing were experts who entered lu xun's research field earlier and accumulated rich knowledge over the years—Lin Chen published "Lu Xun Deeds Examination" in the 1940s, and Wang Shijing was the author of China's first "Lu Xun Biography", and they were undoubtedly suitable candidates for annotating Lu Xun's works.
In the spring of 1951, his superiors appointed Feng Xuefeng as president and founded the People's Literature Publishing House, and he moved the "Lu Xun Works Compilation and Publication Society" in Shanghai to Beijing and became the cornerstone of our company.
After that, it is conceivable that such people who have felt the fire of Lu Xun's spirit will gather together with enthusiasm and sincerity, and strive to publish the best version of Lu Xun's works!
About the 20th anniversary of Lu Xun's death in 1956, Uchiyama completed a photo of his visit to China. From right: Feng Xuefeng, Neishan Guanzuo, Xu Guangping, Lou Shiyi, Wang Shijing, Yang Jiyun, Sun Yong, the Japanese translation editor of the Foreign Language Editorial Department of the Literary Publishing House at that time, temporarily as a translator, has forgotten his name.
Since then, in 1958, the first annotated 10-volume "Complete Works of Lu Xun" was published, in 1981 the most authoritative and influential 16-volume "Complete Works of Lu Xun" was published, and in 2005, the revised 18-volume "Complete Works of Lu Xun" was published. Generation after generation of editors have passed on the torch, edited and revised again and again, and the Complete Works of Lu Xun have been continuously improved, with more complete texts, more accurate proofreading, and more exquisite annotations, becoming the treasure of our company.
In addition, lu xun's works for different readers, anthologies, student reading books, illustrated books, letter collections, translation collections, compilations of ancient books, memories and biographies of Lu Xun, Lu Xun research monographs, Lu Xun dictionaries, Lu Xun photo albums and other books, which have been continuously published for decades, constitute a cluster of books on the theme of Lu Xun and spread the fire of Lu Xun's spirit.
Written on the 140th anniversary of Lu Xun's birth