Lu Xun Research Articles

On the Enlightenment Ideology of Lu Xun——Taking Call to Arms and Wandering as an Example

Lu Xun as an anti-feudal pioneer, is committed to the enlightenment of people and national liberation. His works Call to Arms and Wandering promote the development of literary genre and enlightenment ideology. The image of “intellectuals” and “uncivilized underlying characters” have deeply reflected the enlightenment ideology of Lu Xun. This paper starts from the perspective of two types of characters, and analyzes how the enlightenment is reflected in Call to Arms and Wandering. From the perspective of “intellectuals”, different intellectuals have different enlightenment explorations. The victims of the feudal system reveal the destruction of the intellectual spirit of the old feudal society. Through their tragic destiny, Lu Xun stresses the importance of carrying out enlightenment for national awakening. The maintainer of the feudal system is facing the attitude of the enlightenment ideology to maintain resistance, and it strongly maintained feudal rule and has become the resistance of enlightenment. While Lu Xun criticizes these feudal system maintainers, he also embodies the dilemma of spreading enlightenment ideology and deep expectations for intellectual awakening. The rebels of the feudal system are intellectuals with enlightenment ideas. They are brave enough to fight against the feudal system and dare to speak out for the people. From the perspective of “uncivilized underlying characters”, they are deeply affected by feudal ideas and lack enlightenment consciousness. Through the depiction of these characters, Lu Xun hosts the enlightenment ideology on the underlying people, debunking the cruelty of the feudal system and calling for the awakening of the nationals.

Study on the Translation of Culture-loaded Words from the Perspective of Domestication and Foreignization Theory: A Case Study of Kong Yiji

Culture-loaded words are also called culture-specific words. The translation of them is the difficult point of novel translation. Lu Xun's novel Kong Yiji contains a large number of culture-loaded words. Therefore, translators must adopt different translation strategies from the perspectives of content and context. Based on Lawrence Venuti's theory of "Domestication and Foreignization", this paper analyzes the culture-loaded words in Kong Yiji in order to resolve the obstacles in cross-cultural communication.

Contemporary Chinese poetry in English translation: an interview with Nick Admussen

ABSTRACT Nick Admussen is an associate professor of Chinese literature at Asian Studies Department, Cornell University, where his research and translation focus on contemporary Chinese poetry. He is an acclaimed poetry scholar and translator as well as a prolific essayist and poet. In this interview, which took place via email in April – May 2024, Admussen reviews his career path and shares his observations about the study, translation and reception of contemporary Chinese poetry in the West. The conversation focuses on such intriguing topics as Lu Xun’s prose poem collection Yecao野草in English translation, the translating, publishing, and reception of Floral Mutter: Selected Poetry of Ya Shi, Admussen’s theorization about translating contemporary Chinese poetry into English, and the status quo of this Chinese genre in English translation. Informative, insightful, and sometimes inquisitive, it should be of much interest to those pursuing Chinese literature studies and literary translation studies.

Tavern, Road, Moon: A Comparative Study of the Use of Imagery in the Novels of Lu Xun and Wang Zengqi

The imagery in the novels of Lu Xun and Wang Zengqi frequently overlaps. This paper selects the three common images of tavern, road, and moon for comparison, aiming to analyze the unique emotions and deeper meanings each image carries in the works of these two writers. Lu Xuns novel writing is bold in its innovation, breaking free from the constraints of traditional frameworks, with most of his imagery reflecting and bearing the significance of the times, together constructing a literary world that profoundly reflects social realities and human nature. Inspired by Lu Xun, Wang Zengqis novel writing follows a path that returns to the ordinary, pursuing the beauty of harmony. The imagery in Wang Zengqis novels embodies a love for life, fulfilling his creative ideal of bringing warmth to the human world and his persistent pursuit of expressing the beauty of human nature.

An Etymological and Controversial Examination of Sun Wukong in <i>Journey to the West</i>

Since the debate between Lu Xun's "indigenous theory" and Hu Shi's "exotic theory" on the origin of the image of Sun Wukong, there has been nearly a hundred years of academic discussion. Scholars from various schools have conducted a large number of beneficial studies and reached well-founded conclusions. However, due to the unique nature of Journey to the West as a work that has been accumulated across generations and carries a distinct historical sediment, the controversy surrounding it has always been at an impasse, with no consensus reached. Based on previous studies, this paper will provide an overview of the mainstream theories within the academic community. It will then conduct etymological and dialectical analysis of the character of Sun Wukong from the perspective of the "indigenous theory", thus demonstrating the high plausibility of the indigenous viewpoint.

Self and mother referential processing in phonological false memory

ABSTRACT The current study used phonological DRM and self-reference paradigms to examine whether phonological false memory was affected by self and mother referential processing. In Experiment 1 and 2, words in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott lists were presented to participants with their own name, their mother’s name or “Lu Xun”. Words were presented with their own name and “Lu Xun” in Experiment 3 to compare the effect of self and other referential processing specifically. The results revealed that true recognition rates were not different between self-reference and mother-reference conditions and both were higher than the other-reference condition; there were no significant differences in false recognition rates among the self-reference, mother-reference and other-reference conditions. The findings are discussed in terms of theories of the self and mother reference effects and phonological false memory.

Huxley's Karma and Lu Xun's Ghosts

This article questions the secularist assumption in the received narrative of Chinese modernity by uncovering the religious ideas and imaginations that have since the outset mediated and shaped the Chinese discovery of evolutionary science, a massive phenomenon that has conventionally been understood in a scientistic and secularistic light. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this article revisits Tianyan lun—the Chinese translation of Thomas Henry Huxley's Evolution and Ethics and the single most influential book in initiating late-Qing intellectuals into social Darwinism—as a site for Buddhist global exchange and translingual practice, when the notion of “karma” offered Huxley and his Chinese translator and readers at once a ground of convergence and a point of departure. To Lu Xun and his brother Zhou Zuoren, from a hereditary perspective, karma has assumed the other name of history, while evolution unfolded in perpetual entanglements of humans and ghosts under a samsaric temporal scheme. Lu Xun's obsession with the netherworld has fostered, on the one hand, a deep pessimism about human developmental agency and the promise of the revolution and, on the other hand, an existential courage to confront the “realm of darkness.”

Retraction Note: Multimedia Lu Xun literature online learning based on deep learning

Retraction Note: Multimedia Lu Xun literature online learning based on deep learning

The “Minor Characters” in Lu Xun’s Vernacular Literature—Set “Call to Arms” as an example

The “Minor Characters” in Lu Xun’s Vernacular Literature—Set “Call to Arms” as an example

A Study of Lu Xun's "Blessing" Appellatives and the Implications for Chinese Language Teaching

Lu Xun, as the founder of modern Chinese literature, is known for his profound and sharp language style. Although there are different views on whether and how to teach Lu Xun's works in Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) teaching circles, the fact that Lu Xun's works are most frequently included in Chinese language textbooks is enough to emphasize his central position. From the perspective of sociolinguistics, this paper takes the epithets in Lu Xun's Blessing as the object of study, and employs exhaustive statistics and other research methods to systematically analyze the epithets in Blessing. It is found that Blessing contains 54 predicates, which are categorized into two major categories of locution and expressive function and seven subcategories of occupational title and honorific title on the basis of Li Mingjie's classification of predicates. From the study of the predicates in Blessing, we can see that they are characterized by the wide distribution and different colors of predicative elements, and the phenomenon of heteronymity and homonymity, and so on. Finally, from the perspective of the "Three Teachings" (teachers, teaching materials, and teaching methods), the study provides insights for Chinese language teaching and promotes Chinese language learners to better understand the development of Chinese society through the study of Lu Xun's epithets.

Lu Xun’s Heteromodal Realism

Abstract This article posits modern Chinese realism as heteromodal, capable of encompassing many modes of narration from a plurality of literary movements. Heteromodality results from the heterochronic Chinese importation of Western literary history, the simultaneous reception of what were originally successive historical periods. The fountainhead of heteromodal Chinese realism is Lu Xun’s 1918 “Diary of a Madman,” one of the first modern vernacular Chinese short stories. Though Lu Xun has long been considered a foundational writer of realism in China, critics have complicated this designation by pointing out his modernist or symbolist proclivities. This article redefines Lu Xun’s realism by enlarging the scope of inquiry beyond “Diary” itself to scrutinize its main Russian intertexts: Nikolai Gogol’s 1835 story “Diary of a Madman” and Leonid Andreev’s 1904 novella Red Laugh. Examining the elements that Lu Xun’s story cannibalizes from Russian intertexts, which have themselves defied straightforward categorizations such as realism, the article intervenes in long-standing discussions about the nature of realism in modern China and, more broadly, in recent conversations about peripheral realism.

Trauma, Lu Xun, and the Specter of the Taiping Civil War

Trauma, Lu Xun, and the Specter of the Taiping Civil War

The study of female images in modern Chinese literary works

This article is a study of female images in modern Chinese literary works. The author analyzes the evolution of representations of women in modern Chinese literature and their important role in the democratization of society. Through an examination of the works of authors such as Lu Xun, Lao She, Chen Zhongshi, Yu Hua and others, the article reveals diverse aspects of women's experiences, including social injustice, discrimination and exploitation. In addition, the author highlights the influence of literature in shaping public opinion about the role and rights of women, and discusses possible paths towards creating a more equal and inclusive society in the future. The subjects of the study are the works of modern Chinese writers and the female images of these literary works. The main research materials are the modern Chinese literary works of various genres and movements, including novels, short stories, poems and essays. Research methods – analysis of literary sources on the research topic, comparative analysis, content analysis, interpretation of texts, historical method. The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate ideas about female characters in modern Chinese literary works, taking into account their influence on the processes of democratization of society. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the fact that it represents an initial research look at female images in modern Chinese literature and their influence on the processes of democratization of society. The work is based on the analysis of contemporary literary works and includes the study of various aspects of women's experience in the context of Chinese culture and society. As a result of the study, new trends and patterns in the representation of female characters will be identified, as well as new approaches to understanding and solving the problems of gender inequality and social discrimination in Chinese society will be formulated.

Xu Yuanchong’s Theory of “Three Beauties” and His Poetry Translation Practice

Xu Yuanchong is a master of English translation of ancient Chinese poetry. In the long translation practice, Xu Yuanchong has formed his own unique translation style. He applied Lu Xun’s theory of “three beauties” to English and French translation of classical Chinese poetry, and put forward the theory of “three beauties” in poetry translation, that is, translation of poetry should convey the beauty of meaning, beauty of sound and beauty of form of the original poem as far as possible. At the same time, he pointed out that among the three beauties, beauty of meaning is the most important, beauty of sound is the second, followed by beauty of the form. However, a general survey of Xu Yuanchong’s poetry translation practice showed that in the specific process of poetry translation, Xu started more from the beauty of form, and then to the beauty of sound and beauty of sense, and gradually achieved the perfect state of “three beauties” in poetry translation.

A Systematic Review of Lu Xun's Cover Design Research Over the Last Two Decades

Lu Xun, the founder of modern Chinese literature, designed many self-published books. He merged Western art techniques with Eastern aesthetic traditions, laying the foundation for the modernisation of Chinese book design. However, comprehensive studies on this topic are rare in current research. The aim of this study is to investigate the research trends on Lu Xun's book cover design. We systematically analysed the data from 2004 to 2023 using VOSviewer and Excel software based on the CNKI database. The results of the performance analysis show that there is an overall upward trend in the research on Lu Xun's book cover design. We identified six themes by analysing co-occurring keywords: Lu In recent years, research has shifted from discussing traditional culture to exploring the aesthetic qualities of Lu Xun's book covers. This study may serve as a valuable resource to inspire future researchers.

Warm, Light Smile, Timeless Humanity

The series of essays of "Yasha's Sketches" is a treasure among modern scholars' sketches. This paper pays special attention to the author Liang Shiqiu's life and thought trajectory, and explores and evaluates the motives for the creation of the collection, the humor and writing style, as well as the creative proposition of the collection, starting from the three aspects of style, writing style, and literary concept. Liang Shiqiu's attitude of life, which shifted from entering the world to exiting the world, prompted him to start composing small essays; the humor presented in the anthology by using a variety of techniques can be classified into three kinds, namely, laughter, bitter laughter, and ridicule, and Liang's humor is different from Lu Xun's and Qian Zhongshu's because of its warmth and generosity; and the "fixed and universal human nature" is the unifying theme of the anthology. Liang's humor" is the unifying theme of the anthology, which also influences the creation of later generations of literature.

The Relationship between the Mad Imagery in Lu Xun’s “the Eternal Lamp” and Taoist Philosophy of Life

Lu Xun’s works have always been one of the key research topics, and many researchers focus on the relationship between Lu Xun and Taoism. However, there is still a gap in the study of linking his crazy imagery with Taoism. Therefore, this paper takes “The Eternal Lamp” as an example to analyze the relationship between the madman image and the Taoist philosophy of life. Firstly, the paper points out the unique significance of the image of the madman in “The Eternal Lamp” and then explores the connection between his character image and Taoism in order to obtain Lu Xun’s attitude towards traditional religion. The study argues that Lu Xun unconsciously inherited the positive aspects of the Taoist philosophy of life in shaping his literary image, especially drawing on the prominent power of the subject’s personality. Future academic research can focus on studying traditional philosophy and religion in Lu Xun’s novels, which can help provide a comprehensive understanding of Lu Xun and his works.

Feminism in Lu Xun’s “Regret for the Past”

Lu Xun, one of the representatives of feminism movements in China at the first stage, clearly empathized with Chinese females’ fate and called on Chinese women to awaken their feminist consciousness, playing an important role in the development of feminism movements in China. However, women were not treated equally to men in his description. Zijun, in Lu Xun’s work Regret for the Past, is a woman dependent on male domination and lacks independent consciousness. This paper explores the progress of feminism in Lu Xun’s works and the limitations of his description of independent females based on an analysis of the text Regret for the Past. Lu Xun strongly called on women to empower themselves, free their personalities, and awaken their feminist consciousness to become independent individuals. However, the paper argues that Lu Xun’s examination of feminism also had some limitations due to its male thoughts and narrative perspective.

A Deep Study of the Reasons for the Formation of Chang'e Image in The Flight to the Moon

"The Flight to the Moon" in Lu Xun's "Old Tales Retold" is a modern and secular adaptation of traditional fairy tales under the environment of the times. In his works, Chang'e, who was placed in the secular world, changed from the traditional image of a fairy to a complex image with the characteristics of women of the times. She is not only a sharp secular woman, but also a numb woman under feudal thought, and finally an advanced female image with ideological awakening. In-depth text exploration and analysis of the reasons for the formation and transformation of Chang'e's image from her life and living environment are of great significance to the study of the living environment of women in the times and Mr. Lu Xun's thinking on women's view and women's way out.

On the Character Image of Lu Xun 's Li Shui Da Yu Starts Here: Centered on the hero 's fall and its practical significance

Based on the myths and legends of Dayu 's flood control, Lu Xun created a new image of Dayu in a mixed way of ancient and modern times, skillfully criticized and satirized the cultural environment at that time, and praised the ' Chinese backbone ' hero. At the same time, as a ' Chinese backbone ' hero, he was finally assimilated by the common people and fell into degeneration. Through a comprehensive analysis and deconstruction of the image of Dayu, this paper reveals its practical significance, understands the humanistic feelings contained in the works, and encourages the current actions in China.