Lu Xun is a pen name.His real name was Zhou Shuren.Lu Xun wrote stories,poetry,essays,literary criticism and literary history.His stories were published in literary journals of the time and were then collected and published as books.He has three volumes of short stories.
His first set of stories was published as the book "Call to Arms" or Na Han.Na Han could also be translated "Cry Out".This collection included arguably his most famous story "The True Story of Ah Q".These were written between 1918 and 1922.In his preface to Call to Arms he told where the stories came from:
When I was young I,too,had many dreams.Most of them I later forgot,but I see nothing in this to regret.For although recalling the past may bring happiness,at times it cannot but bring loneliness,and what is the point of clinging in spirit to lonely bygone days?However,my trouble is that I cannot forget completely,and these stories stem from those things which I have been unable to forget.
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"Wandering" or Pang Huang was his second collection of stories.These stories were written in 1924 and 1925.The name of this second collection,Pang Huang,is puzzling to me in a way as it is translated as "Wandering" when literally pang huang seems to mean unsettled agitated.I think of wandering as meaning travelling around looking at things.But in Chinese,idiomatic expressions are found in different areas and in this case the unsettled and agitated must mean wandering about.I think maybe in English we might use the term rambling rather than wandering to imply the itchy feet agitated and unsettled feeling that leads to the rambling life.
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His third collection of short stories was called "Old Tales Retold" or Gu Shi Xin Bian and is what it sounds like.He retold old Chinese stories from his own perspective.This collection was published in 1935 and included stories that were written over a thirteen year period in the 1920's and thirties.In the introduction to the eight stories included in "Old Tales Retold" Lu Xun wrote:
In some places the narrative is based on passages in old books,elsewhere I gave free rein to my imagination.And having less respect for the ancients than for my contemporaries,I have not always been able to avoid facetiousness.
The free rein Lu Xun gave his imagination and his unavoidance of facetiousness made for some funny stuff.The story "Leaving the Pass" about Lao Zi and Confucius (Kong Zi) made me laugh aloud reading it.
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Another major work by Lu Xun is Wild Grass or Ye Cao a collection of prose poems.These were written in 1924 and 1926,roughly the same time period the stories of Wandering were being written.Some might consider some of the poems in Wild Grass to be his most pessimistic or macabre.I'd say "yes and no" to this.He writes in the introduction:
The fire under the Earth churns,quickly moving up; once the lava gushes forth,it will burn away all the wild grass,as well as the deep-rooted plants,then there will be nothing left to rot.
Translated by Wang/Gallaher
Wild Grass is a work of dreams,including nightmares.Dogs speak,insects buzz and the sky tries to hide itself from us,the onlookers.
