Chapter 3 The Cause of "The True Story of Ah Q" [1]

The Cause of "The True Story of Ah Q" [1] In the 251st issue of "Literature Weekly", Mr. Xidi talked about it, especially "The True Story of Ah Q". [2] Unknowingly, this reminded me of some small things, and I would like to use this to talk about them. One can be regarded as an essay, and I have submitted a manuscript; the other can be read by those who want to read it. First, I want to copy a passage of Mr. Xidi’s original text—— "This article deserves everyone's attention. It's not without reason. But there are also a few points worth discussing. For example, when I first read the "Morning News" scene in the last "reunion" scene, I didn't take it seriously. I don't think so, it seems that the author was too hasty about Ah Q's ending; he didn't want to write any more, so he gave him a "happy reunion" so casually. A person like Ah Q must finally start When the Revolutionary Party finally came to such a happy ending, it seemed that even the author himself was unexpected when he first wrote it. At least in terms of personality, it seems to be two.”

Whether or not Ah Q really wants to be a revolutionary party, and even if he does, whether he seems to have two personalities, is left for the moment.It would take a lot of effort to talk about the cause of this article alone.I often say that my articles are not poured out, but squeezed out.People who listen to it often misunderstand it as humility, but it is actually true.I don't have anything to say, and I don't have any articles to write, but I have a self-destructive temper, and sometimes I can't help shouting a few times, trying to add some excitement to people.It’s like a tired ox. It knows it’s useless, but why use waste? So the Zhang family wants me to plow a field, it’s fine; the Li family wants me to be grinded, it’s okay; He stood in front of the store for a while, and posted an advertisement on my back: Our store has fat cows and sells high-quality sterilized nourishing milk.Although I know how thin I am, I am a male, and have no breasts, but I think they are justified for the sake of business, so as long as what they sell is not poison, I will not say anything.But if it is too hard for me, it won’t work, I have to forage for grass and have time to breathe; if you want to point me to a certain family’s cattle and lock me in his cattle prison, that’s not okay, I Sometimes you may have to give others a few turns.If even the meat had to be sold, then naturally it would not work, the reason is self-evident, no need to elaborate.If I encounter the above three failures, I will run away, or simply lie down in the barren hills.Even if it suddenly changed from profound to superficial, from a warrior to a beast, and scares me into thinking that Kang Youwei is better than Liang Qichao, [3] I still don’t care. I am too "sophisticated" too deep.

In recent years, many people have seen it, and it was never expected at the beginning, and they were not even expected.But I followed the wishes of my acquaintances and asked me to write something.Not very busy, because not many people know that Lu Xun is me. I also used more than one pen name: LS, Shenfei, Tang Qi, a certain living person, Xuezhi, Fengsheng; before that, there were also: Zishu, Suoshi, Lingfei, and Xunxing.Lu Xun came from Xunxing, because the editors of "New Youth" at that time did not want to have a signature like an alias. Now some people think that I want to be a dog leader. It's so pitiful. After scouting for a hundred times, I still don't understand.I have never planted the banner of Lu Xun to visit anyone; "Lu Xun is Zhou Shuren" was found out by others. [4] There are four types of these people: one is to study novels, so they want to know the author's life experience; the other is simply curious;

One type is because I also make short comments, so I deliberately exposed it, thinking that I will suffer; the other type thinks it is useful to him, and wants to get in. At that time, I lived near the west city, and I knew that Lu Xun belonged to me, probably only the people in the "New Youth" and "Xin Chao" clubs; Sun Fuyuan [5] was also one.He is editing a supplement for the Morning Post.I don't know whose idea it is, but suddenly I want to add a column called "Happy Words", once a week.He came and asked me to write something. The image of Ah Q seems to have been in my mind for several years, but I have never had any intention of writing about him.After mentioning this, I suddenly remembered it, and wrote a little bit at night, which is the first chapter: Preface.Just because I want to cut the topic of "happy talk", I randomly added some unnecessary humor, which is actually out of proportion in the whole article.The signature is "Baren" and "Xialibaren" [6] is not elegant.Unexpectedly, this signature got into trouble again, but I never knew about it. I only found out this year when I saw Han Lu (that is, Gao Yihan [7]) "Gossip" in "Modern Review".That's roughly—

"...I remember that when "The True Story of Ah Q" was published one after another, many people were afraid that they would scold him in the future. And a friend said to me that yesterday's "Ah Q" A certain paragraph in "The True Story of Q" seems to be scolding himself. Therefore, he suspects that "The True Story of Ah Q" was written by someone. All those scolded in "The True Story of Ah Q" were considered to be his secrets; all contributors who had relations with the newspapers that published "The True Story of Ah Q" would inevitably be suspects of the author of "The True Story of Ah Q" ! When he found out the author's name and surname in "The True Story of Ah Q", he realized that he and the author had never known each other, so he suddenly realized it, and declared that he was not scolding him." (Volume Four, No. Eighty-nine issue)

I am sorry to Mr. "someone" for being a suspect for many days because of me.It's a pity that I don't know who it is. The word "Baren" can easily be suspected of Sichuanese, or Sichuanese.Until this article was included, some people still asked me: Who and whom are you really scolding?I can only be sad and angry, and my self-hatred can't make people see me as not so inferior. After the first chapter was published, the word "bitterness" was imminent, and I had to do an article every seven days.Although I was not busy at the time, I was still a refugee and slept at night in a room that was used as a passageway. This room only had a rear window, and there was not even a good place to write. There I could sit quietly and think for a while.Although Fu Yuan is not as fat as he is now, he is already smiling and good at prompting manuscripts.Once a week, whenever there is an opportunity, it is:

"Mr. "The True Story of Ah Q"... Tomorrow I have to pay for the rehearsal." So I had to do it, thinking to myself, "As the saying goes: 'A beggar is afraid of being bitten by a dog, and a scholar is afraid of the annual exam.' I am neither a scholar, but I also have to take the weekly exam. It's really embarrassing..." But finally another chapter.However, it seems to have gradually become serious; Fu Yuan also felt that he was not very "happy", so from the second chapter onwards, he moved it to the "New Literature and Art" column.

This continued week after week, so the question of whether Ah Q could become a revolutionary party inevitably arose.As far as I am concerned, if there is no revolution in China, Ah Q will not do it. Now that there is a revolution, he will do it.My Ah Q's fate can only be like this, and I am afraid that there are not two personalities.The first year of the Republic of China has passed, and there is no trace of it, but if there are reforms after that, I believe there will be a revolutionary party like Ah Q.I am also very willing, as people say, that I only write about the period before the present, but I am also afraid that what I see is not the predecessor of the present, but the later, or twenty or thirty years later.In fact, this is not an insult to the revolutionary party. After all, Ah Q has already plastered his pigtails with bamboo chopsticks; in the following fifteen years, Changhong "entered the publishing industry" (8), and became a Chinese "Sui Hui". Is Liov” [9] gone?

"The True Story of Ah Q" has been in production for about two months. I really want to end it, but I can't remember clearly. It seems that Fu Yuan disapproves, or I suspect that if it ends, he will come to protest, so He kept the "happy reunion" in his heart, but Ah Q was already on the road to death.By the last chapter, if Fu Yuan had been there, he might have suppressed it and asked Ah Q to live for a few more weeks.But "it will be when the time is right" [10], he went back, and Mr. He Zuolin [11] took his place, and I had no love or hatred for Ah Q, so I sent the "Great Reunion" and he posted it.By the time Fuyuan returned to Beijing, Ah Q had been shot dead for more than a month.No matter how good Fu Yuan was at urging manuscripts, how he laughed and laughed, he could no longer say, "Sir, "The True Story of Ah Q"...." From then on, I finally got over one thing and could do something else.What else did I do, I can't remember now, but it was probably something like this.

In fact, the "great reunion" was not given to him "at will"; as for whether he had expected it when he first wrote it, that is indeed a question.I seem to remember: I didn't expect it.But this is also helpless, who can expect people's "reunion" at the beginning?Not only for Ah Q, but even for my own "big reunion" in the future, I can't predict what will happen.Finally a "scholar", or a "professor"?Or "student bandit" or "student stick"? Is it "bureaucrat" or "sword and pen official"? Is it an "authority in the ideological world", or a "pioneer in the ideological world", or a "sophisticated old man"? "artist"?

"warrior"?Or is it a special "Araji husband" who is not afraid of trouble when meeting guests?almost?almost? almost?almost? But Ah Q can naturally have various other results, but this is not something I know. In the past, I felt that I wrote "too much", but recently I don't think so.Even if the current affairs in China are described truthfully, people in other countries, or people in the future China, will feel grotesk[12].I often imagine a thing and think it is too strange; but when I encounter similar facts, it is often even stranger.Before this fact happened, with my little knowledge, it was absolutely unexpected. About a month ago, a robber was shot here. Two men in short jackets each held a pistol, and they shot a total of seven shots.I don't know if I won't die after hitting, or if I die, I still fight, so I have to fight so much.At that time, I expressed emotion to a group of my young classmates, saying: This is the situation when they were executed by shooting in the early years of the Republic of China; now, after more than ten years, we should improve, and there is no need to give the dead so much pain.This is not the case in Beijing. Before the prisoner arrived at the execution ground, the executioner shot him in the back of the head and killed him. Before he knew he was dead.Therefore, after all, Beijing is "the most benevolent area", even the death penalty is far better than that of other provinces. But a few days ago, I saw Beijing's "World Journal" on November 23, and I knew that my words were not true. There was a news item on the sixth page titled "Du Xiaoshuanzi Died with a Knife". Five verses, now summarizing one verse below—— When Du Xiaoshuanzi killed the remaining people with a knife, the garrison headquarters decided to use the "headshot punishment" because of the request of the soldiers of the Yi Army. Therefore, before Du et al. came to the scene, a knife was ready for the execution ground.The knife is long, with a wooden base underneath and a thick and sharp knife in the middle. There is a hole in the lower end of the knife, which is embedded in the wood and can move up and down. After Du and the other four entered the execution ground, the soldiers recruited Take Du et al. from the execution cart, and tell them to stand facing the prepared execution table with their faces facing north. ... Du didn't kneel down, and a certain inspector from the fifth outer right district went to ask Du: Do you want someone to take care of you?Du just laughed and didn't answer, and then ran to the knife by himself, slept on the knife, and was tortured on his back. At first, the execution soldier had lifted the knife, and after Du's pillow was in a suitable place, the execution soldier closed his eyes and gave a violent blow. , Du's body is no longer in one place.There was a lot of bleeding. Song Zhenshan, who was kneeling beside him waiting for the shooting, and the other three also peeked at each other. Among them was Zhao Zhen, who was still trembling.Later, a certain platoon leader stood behind Song and the others with a pistol, and shot Song Zhenshan first, then Li Yousan and Zhao Zhen, each with one shot. …At first, the two sons of Cheng Buchi, Zhong Zhi Zhongxin, who were murdered, were watching and crying loudly. After everyone was executed, they went to shout: Dad!Damn!Your revenge has been avenged!What should we do?Those who heard it were very sad, and the family led them back home. If there is a genius who really feels the pulse of the times and publishes a novel describing such a scene on November 22, I think many readers will think that he is talking about the time of Grandpa Bao Longtu’s [13] , in the eleventh century in the Western calendar, there will be a difference of nine hundred years from ours. How nice this is.... As for the translations of "The True Story of Ah Q", I have only seen two. [14] The French version was published in the August issue of "Europa", and only one-third of it was abridged.The English translation seems to be very earnest, but I don't know English, so I can't say anything.I just happened to see two things that can be discussed: one is that "three hundred big coins and ninety-two strings" should be translated as "three hundred big coins, with ninety-two characters as one hundred"; the other is that "persimmon oil party" is not as good as the transliteration Because it was originally a "Liberal Party" and the country people couldn't understand it, it was corrupted into a "Persimmon Oil Party" that they could understand. Written in Xiamen on December 3rd. ※ ※ ※ [1] This article was originally published in the eighteenth issue of Shanghai "Bei Xin" Weekly on December 18, 1926. 〔2〕"Literary Weekly" is the official publication of the Literary Research Association.Founded in Shanghai in May 1921.Formerly known as "Literature Xunkan", it is one of the supplements of "Current Affairs News", edited by Zheng Zhenduo and others.In July 1923, it was renamed "Literature" (weekly).It was renamed "Literature Weekly" in May 1925 and published independently. It ceased publication in June 1929, and about 400 issues were published.Xidi, Zheng Zhenduo (1898-1958), pen name Xidi, was born in Changle, Fujian, writer and literary historian. His article was published in the No. 251 issue of "Literature Weekly" (November 21, 1926), and the title was "Scream". [3] These words were directed at Gao Changhong.In the first issue of "Hurricane" weekly (October 1926), in the article "Revolution and Others" of "Going to the Publishing World", Gao said that "Lu Xun is a profound thinker, and his contemporaries have no Can match him." However, in the fifth issue of "Hurricane" (November 1926), "Going to the Publishing Industry", "1925 Beijing Publishing Industry Situation in Hand Map", it attacked Lu Xun as already "Let's descend into the face of a not very clever but brave warrior, and then descend into the face of a sophisticated old man."The article also takes Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan and others as examples to see how "old people" will inevitably "fall down" and say: "There was Kangliang back then, and there is Kangliang today; there was Zhang Taiyan back then, and there is Zhang Taiyan today.... The so-called Zhou brothers, how are they today, they should be kind to themselves!" According to Gao Changhong, Yu County, Shanxi Ren, the main member of the Hurricane Society, was a young author with nihilism and anarchism in his thinking. [4] The "someone" mentioned here refers to Gao Changhong and others.Gao said in "1925 Beijing Publishing Industry Situation in Hand": "Lu Xun and I have met more than a hundred times." "Others" refers to Chen Xiying and others. [5] Sun Fuyuan (1894-1966), formerly known as Fuyuan, was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.Lu Xun was a student when he was the principal of Shaoxing Normal School, and later graduated from Peking University. He joined Xinchao Club and Yusi Club, and successively served as the editor of "Morning News Supplement", "Beijing News Supplement", and Wuhan "Central Daily Supplement". He once taught at Xiamen University and Sun Yat-sen University together with the author.Author of "Fuyuan Travel Notes", "Two or Three Things about Mr. Lu Xun" and so on. 〔6〕"Xialiba People" is a popular song of the ancient Chu State. "Selected Works" Volume 45 Song Yu "Ask the King of Chu": "The guests who have songs in the middle of the country are the people of Xialiba, and there are thousands of people who belong to the middle school;...they are Yangchun Baixue, and the middle school belongs to them. Peacemakers, but dozens of people." 〔7〕Gao Yihan, born in Lu'an, Anhui, was a professor at Peking University and a writer for Modern Review.The text quoted here can be found in his "Gossip" published in "Modern Review", Vol. 4, No. 89 (August 21, 1926).In this "Gossip", he accused the writers at that time of "starting their careers mostly by swearing", and then took "The True Story of Ah Q" as an example to say the passage quoted here. 〔8〕"Going to the Publishing World" Gao Changhong published the general title of critical texts successively in the weekly "Hurricane" edited by him, and later printed a separate volume, which was issued by Shanghai Taidong Bookstore. 〔9〕 "Suhuilyov" is a character in the novel "Worker Suhuilyov" by the Russian writer Arzhibasov, an anarchist.Gao Changhong compared himself to Suhuilyov in "1925 Beijing Publishing Situation in the Hand", saying that his first visit to Lu Xun made him "imagining the situation when Yalajiv and Suhuilyov met" (Yalajiv is also a character in "Worker Suhuilyov"). 〔10〕The term "meeting when it is appropriate" can be seen in "Wen Zhongzi · Zhong Shuo · Zhou Gong", which originally means "will be appropriate when it is intended".Zhang Shizhao erroneously used it as "just in time" in "Destroying the Law" published in "Jiayin" Weekly, Volume 1, No. 1 (July 18, 1925).The author gives irony by the way here. [11] He Zuolin, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong, graduated from Peking University.He was the editor of The Morning Post. [12] Grotesk is German, meaning weird and absurd. 〔13〕Bao Longtu is Bao Zheng (999-1062), a native of Hefei, Anhui Province in the Song Dynasty, and a direct bachelor of Zengguan Longtuge.There are many folk legends about him in the old days; in other novels or dramas, there are stories about him using a guillotine to kill people. [14] Refers to the French version translated by Jing Yinyu and the English version translated by Liang Shegan.The French translation was published in the forty-first and forty-second issues of the monthly magazine "Europa" edited by Romain Rolland (May 15, June 15, 1926); Chapters are abbreviated.The English translation was published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1926.