Lu Xun

Lu Hsun

Gladys Yang

Yang Hsien-Yi

Selected Stories of Lu Hsun By Lu Hsun The True Story of Ah Q, and Other Stories Translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang Selected Stories of Lu Hsun is a collection of English translations of major stories of the Chinese author Lu Xun translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang and first published in 1960 by the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. This book was republished in 2007 by the Foreign Languages Press with the updated title of Lu Xun Selected Works. Stories included in the collection are drawn from three of Lu Xun's story collections: Call to Arms (CTA), "Wandering" (W), and "Old Tales Retold" (OTR). The stories were a major influence on the May Fourth Movement in China in the 1920s. One major theme in the stories in this collection is that habits of mind (psychology or "spirit") need to be examined; improvements in material conditions and institutions, while important, are not sufficient by themselves to renew China. See in particular A Madman's Diary and The True Story of Ah Q. Lu Xun employed point of view in his stories in a way that was novel at the time for Chinese literature, helping readers consider new possibilities about the true nature of the reality around them. A second major theme in the stories is the problem of how members of the intellectual class are to live their lives. It is a theme in many stories, including Kong Yiji, My Old Home, In the Wine Shop, Regret for the Past, and others. A third major theme in the stories is commentary on traditional customs and institutions. The stories look at the specific dysfunctions of particular customs and institutions, and also at the general result in which people are discarded. It is a theme in many stories, especially Kong Yiji and The New Year Sacrifice.

The True Story of Ah Q, and Other Stories

Selected Stories of Lu Hsun

Lu Hsun, chief commander of China's modern cultural revolution, was not only a great thinker and political commentator but the founder of modern Chinese literature. As early as in the May 1918 issue of the magazine New Youth, Lu Hsun published one of his best stories, A Madman's Diary. This was his "declaration of war" against China's feudal society, and the first short story in the history of modern Chinese literature. Thereafter he followed up with a succession of stories such as The True Story of Ah Q and The New Year's Sacrifice, which cut through and sharply attacked stark reality in the dark old society. These stories were later included in the three volumes Call to Arms, Wandering and Old Tales Retold, and have become treasures in the Chinese people's literary heritage.In his early life Lu Hsun was a revolutionary democrat, who later matured into a communist. His earlier works were mainly stories, 18 of the more important of which, plus the preface to Call to Arms, his first short story collection, have been selected for this book. The stories show clearly his method in this period of creative writing, thoroughgoing critical realism, a method closely related to the outright anti-imperialist and anti-feudal views which he formed in his early days.In his preface to Call to Arms, the author tells his motive in choosing literature as a weapon of struggle. This will give readers a deeper understanding of Lu Hsun's stories.

Lu Hsun (1881-1936), chief commander of China's modern cultural revolution, was not only a great thinker and political commentator but the founder of modern Chinese literature. As early as in the May 1918 issue of the magazine New Youth, Lu Hsun published one of his best stories, A Madman's Diary. This was his "declaration of war" against China's feudal society, and the first short story in the history of modern Chinese literature. Thereafter he followed up with a succession of stories such as The True Story of Ah Q and The New Year's Sacrifice, which cut through and sharply attacked stark reality in the dark old society. These stories were later include in the three columns Call to Arms, Wandering and Old Tales Retold, and have become treasures in the Chinese people's literary heritage.In his early life Lu Hsun was a revolutionary democrat, who later matured into a communist. His earlier works were mainly stories, 18 of the more important of which, plus the preface to Call to Arms, his first short story collection, have been selected for this book. The stories show clearly his method in this period of creative writing, thoroughgoing critical realism, a method closely related to the outright anti-imperialist and anti-feudal views, which he formed in his ear days.In his preface to Call to Arms, the author tells his motive in choosing literature as a weapon of struggle. This will give readers a deeper understanding of Lu Hsun's stories.

Selected Writings of Lu Xun

The Complete Stories of Lu Xun

The eighteen stories collected in this volume showcase the simple eloquence of a spectacular literary talent. "The True Story of Ah Q" is considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature and a towering feat of sardonic wit and biting parody.

The True Story of Ah Q and Other Tales

Old Tales Retold is a collection of stories by Lu Hsun, prominent writer, thinker, revolutionary, and forerunner of China's Cultural Revolution. It contains eight stories on historical subjects, a period of thirteen years elapsing between his writing of the first tale in 1922 and the publication of the collection in 1935.

Old Tales Retold

This is a new release of the original 1940 edition.

The Literary Mentor of the Chinese Revolution

Chosen Pages from Lu Hsun

Lu Hsun, pioneer and standard-bearer of modern Chinese literature, wrote this book during the early twenties. It is a study of the historical development of Chinese fiction from early myths and legends down to well-developed long novels written at the end of the Ching Dynasty.The characteristics of various forms of fiction through the centuries, the development of these forms and their influence on each other are lucidly presented, while such major works as the novels Hung Lou Meng (A Dream of Red Mansions) and Shue Hu Chuan (Water Margin) are reviewed in detail.Chinese fiction had its roots in story telling, and the feudal ruling class despised folk literature of this kind. The May 4th Movement of 1919 dealt a mortal blow to the feudal forces in Chinese culture. Then the study of this form of literature began to make headway, Lu Hsun being one of the first to carry out research in this field.This book, the earliest systematic study of the history of Chinese fiction by a Chinese writer, still exercises a great influence among Chinese scholars.This English translation is illustrated with reproductions of early Chinese woodcuts.

A Brief History of Chinese Fiction

Lu Hsuns groundbreaking first book changed the face of Chinese literature, so much so that Mao Zedong later called him the chief commander of Chinas Cultural Revolution. This edition includes the Diary of a Madman and the often-excised Story of Hair a work too critical of the Communists to be included in most anthologies by the author.

Call to Arms

Lu Hsun (also known as Lu Xun), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (1881–1936), a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai. Lu Xun was born into a family of landlords and government officials in Shaoxing, Zhejiang; the family's financial resources declined over the course of his youth. Lu aspired to take the imperial civil service exam; but, due to his family's relative poverty, was forced to attend government-funded schools teaching "Western education". Upon graduation, Lu went to medical school in Japan, but later dropped out. He became interested in studying literature, but was eventually forced to return to China due to his family's lack of funds. After returning to China, Lu worked for several years teaching at local secondary schools and colleges before finally finding a job at the national Ministry of Education. After the 1919 May Fourth Movement, Lu Xun's writing began to exert a substantial influence on Chinese literature and popular culture. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a leftist and liberal. He was highly acclaimed by the Chinese government after 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, and Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's writing. Though sympathetic to socialist ideas, Lu Xun never joined the Communist Party of China.

Lu Hsun

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