Penerbit : Foreign Language Press (1960)
Tebal : 312 halaman
Kategori : non fiksi
Jenis kover : hard cover
Kondisi : baik
Harga jual : Rp. 45.000
Berat: 500 gram
Bahasa : Inggris
Catatan Editor
The essays in this volume come from four collections: Fringed Literature * and three volumes of Essays of Chieh-chieh-ting.
Fringed Literature, a collection of sixty-one essays written in 1934, was first published in 1936. The thirty-six essays in the first series of Essays of Chieh-chieh-ting were also written in 1934, the forty-eight in the second series in 1935, and the thirty-five in the third series in 1936. The three collections of Essays of Chieh-chieh-ting were all published in July 1937 after Lu Hsun's death, the first two having been edited by Lu Hsun, the last by his wife Hsu Kuang-ping.
Between 1934 and 1936, when the essays in this volume were written, the spearhead of Japanese invasion had struck south from the northeastern provinces to Peking and Tientsin. On April 17, 1934, the Japanese imperialists openly declared that China belonged to their sphere of influence. In 1935, Ho Ying-chin signed the Ho-Umezu Agreement whereby the Kuomin-tang government substantially surrendered China's sovereign rights in the provinces of Hopei and Chahar. In November of the same year, the Japanese occupied Inner Mongolia and set up a puppet "autonomous govermnent" there. In 1936, they set up a North China Garrison Headquarters, continuously increased the number of troops along the Peking-Liaoning Railway, sent secret agents and smuggled goods into all parts of China to create incidents and stir up trouble, in preparation for a full-scale war of aggression to conquer all China. Despite these acts of provocation, the reactionary Kuomin-tang government maintained its policy of non-resistance, betraying the country to Japan and devoting all its energy to suppressing patriotic movements, launching a fifth offensive against therevolutionary base of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1934, the Red Army, led by the Chinese Communist Party, set out on the famous Long March in order to advance north to fight Japan. On August 1, 1935, the Chinese Communist Party published the "Appeal to Fellow-Countrymen Concerning Resistance to Japan and National Salvation." On November 28, it published the "Ten-Point Progranune for Resistance to Japan and National Salvation," calling for the establishment of a national united front, for the cessation of civil war, and for all-out resistance to Japanese aggression. This call of the Party immediately gained wide support from the whole people including, of course, literary circles. On December 28, 1935, the Society for National Salvation was set up by cultural circles in Shanghai. In May 1936, the All-China Association for National Salvation was established, and over a thousand patriotic pub- lications appeared in different parts of the country. At that time the common demand in the literary and art movement was to unite all writers and artists, whether old or new, regardless of class and party, except those who collaborated with the enemy, to co-operate in the common task of resisting Japan and saving the country, and to form an anti-Japanese national united front of writers and artists. Early in October, Chinese writers and artists published a Declaration on Uniting to Resist Aggression and on Freedom of Speech, signed by all representative figures in cultural circles. This laid the foundation of the anti-Japanese national united front of writers and artists.
From 1934 to 1936, Lu Hsun lived in Shanghai where the White Terror was rampant. Though he had tuberculosis and his health was failing he went on fighting, leading the progressive writers, courageously exposing and attacking the reactionary measures of Chiang Kai-shek's government and defeating its "cultural offensive." During this period he also resolutely combated various reactionary trends in literature. He severely criticized the sycophantic writers represented by Lin Yu-tang, as well as those who advocated belles-lettres in the style of the late Ming dynasty, or talked of standing aloof from mundane affairs and posed as a cultured élite. He also exposed such "Pedlars of revolution" as Yang Chun-jell, such "poets" as Tseng Chin-ko. Lu Mun not only made clear his revolutionary stand in these courageous fights, but on the eve of the War of Resistance to Japanese Aggression he openly set down in writing his support of the Chinese Communist Party. In his "Reply to a letter from the Trotskyites" he said: "I count it an honour to have as my comrades those who are now doing solid work, treading firmly on the ground, fighting and shed- ding their blood in the defence of the Chinese people." He was referring here to the Chinese Communist Party led by Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the Red Army of Workers and Peasants.
Lu Hsun's essays of these years made a most glorious contribution in the realm of ideas to Chinese revolutionary literature. First, he made valuable proposals on the questions of popularization and specialization in literature and art. In his view, the masses were not as stupid as some educated men tended to think. "They want knowledge, they want new knowledge. They want to study and they can absorb new things. Of course, if language consists of nothing but new terms and a new syntax they will not understand; but if what they need is given them gradually, they can take it. Perhaps their digestions are stronger than those of many scholars with more preconceived ideas." ("A Layman's Remarks on Writing.")Here he has indicated the relationship between popularization and elevation: the two are not incompatible, but popularization may lead gradually to elevation.
Lu Hsun during this period also expressed most out- standing views on critically taking over the cultural heritage. He pointed out that the new class and the new culture did not suddenly drop down from heaven but developed mainly in the revolt against the old ruling class and its culture, developed in the clash with old traditions; thus the new culture must stem from the old and adopt certain of its attributes; it should adopt the best elements, those close to the people or to the revolution, abandoning all that was feudal and backward. In his essay "On Using Old Forms," he took Chinese painting as an example to make a vivid, detailed analysis of this problem.
Lu Hsun was a great patriot and a great internationalist. He was all for the Soviet Union and worked indefatigably to promote friendship and an exchange of ideas between the Chinese and the Soviet people, setting us a splendid example of how to learn from the Soviet Union. In "The Exhibition of Soviet Graphic Art" he said: "The same content may be expressed in a variety of forms, but mere slavish imitation will never produce true art." Here he was advising us to create our own works based on the example of our teacher, and how to study the best achievements of other countries.
Lu Hsun's death on October 19, 1936, was an irreparable loss for the Chinese people. But Lu Hsun's spirit will live on for ever. His magnificent writings will always be part of the most prized heritage of Chinese literature.
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