The symbolism in "Wandering" can be roughly divided into three categories: (1) setting up symbolic characters, (2) conceiving symbolic events and plots, and (3) rendering symbolic backgrounds and atmospheres. For example, the "madman" in "The Everlasting Lantern" is a symbol of the democratic fighters who dare to destroy the old forces. The original meaning of these figures has disappeared and become a substitute for a certain idea.

Symbolism is the transformation of ideas into images, and then at the service of the ideological meaning of the work. Lu Xun's novels always give certain symbolic meaning to things in real life. For example, the description of the offerings to the gods in "Blessing" also has a certain symbolic meaning, Xianglin's sister-in-law is a widow who marries and remarries, and the offerings cannot touch her hands. "If you don't dry it, your ancestors won't eat it. This description implies that Xianglin's sister-in-law does not even have the right to be a slave, showing the oppression of feudal theocracy on her. At the end of "The Lonely", it is written: "There is something struggling in the ear, and after a long time, it finally struggles out, vaguely like a long howl, like a wounded wolf, howling in the wilderness in the middle of the night, and the sorrow is mixed with anger and sorrow." The wolf's cry was actually the sustenance of Wei Lianzhen's lonely, desperate, and painful soul.

The work affects the editor

In June 1999, "Wandering" was selected by Asia Weekly as the 12th of the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century. [26]

In April 2020, it was included in the "Reading Guidance Catalogue for Primary and Secondary School Students of the Basic Education Curriculum and Textbook Development Center of the Ministry of Education (2020 Edition)".

Work evaluation editing

Yoshiyoshi Takeuchi, a researcher and translator of modern Chinese literature in Japan: These 25 novels contain various tendencies. It can be seen that he made various attempts through his novels. Whether it succeeds or fails (there are many failures), each work has a different relationship with the author from its own distance and direction. Generally speaking, this is rare.

Wang Jingshan, a professor at Capital Normal University: The old forces are strong and cannot stop fighting, and the "new Wenyuan" is lonely, the "old battlefield" is safe, and there is no way to form a formation. The eleven articles of "Hesitation" truly reflect the reality at that time, and also accurately reflect Lu Xun's mentality at that time. Following this clue to understand "Hesitation", it may be more in line with Lu Xun's original intention!

Publication Information Editor

"Hesitation" was first published in August 1926 by Beijing Beixin Book Company, and was listed as one of the "rabble series" compiled by Lu Xun. On the back of the title page is the words "Tao Yuanqing wrote". When it was reprinted in the same year, it was changed to the Shanghai branch of Beixin, Lu Xun was not satisfied with the revision, he said in a letter to a friend: "This time "Wandering" was republished in Shanghai, and the color was wrong, which in his (referring to the cover designer Tao Yuanqing) seemed to him, just like someone else changed our article to make sense. ”

"Hesitation" was printed to the fifteenth edition by Beixin Book Company during Lu Xun's lifetime, but the fourth edition has not been seen, and the third and fifth editions are printed in succession, so this edition may not have actually been printed. The manuscripts of the eleven works collected are no longer extant.

And Mr. Lu Xun also has a well-known book is "Morning Flowers and Sunset"

Main content:

In "Morning Flowers and Sunset", the author Lu Xun uses the method of interjecting and discussing, taking the life experience of his youth as a clue, and truly and vividly describes his life experience from the countryside to the town, from the family to the society, from home to abroad, expressing the nostalgia for his relatives, friends and teachers in the past, and at the same time ridiculing and criticizing the old forces and old culture.

Introduction

(1) "Dog, Cat, Mouse" describes the author's reasons for hating cats, takes the type of "cat", and satirizes people who are similar to cats in life.

(2) "Ah Chang and the Classic of Mountains and Seas" describes the author's childhood with Ah Chang, expressing his nostalgia and gratitude to her.

Chaohua Xishi (9) (3) "Twenty-four Filial Piety Pictures" focuses on the strong antipathy aroused when reading the two stories of "Lao Lai Yuqin" and "Guo Ju Burying Er", exposing the hypocrisy and cruelty of feudal filial piety, and revealing the pitiful and miserable situation of children in old China.

(4) "Five Rampant Meetings" takes the meeting as the background and describes the feudal system's restraint and destruction of children's nature.

(5) "Impermanence" expresses the despair of the Chinese people in the old era at the dark society and their indignation at the injustice of the world by describing the incident of impermanence saving people and being beaten.

(6) "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Study" describes the author's childhood pleasure in the Baicao Garden at home and the strict but fun life of reading in Sanwei Study, revealing the sharp contradiction between children's broad life interests and feudal school education that restricts children's nature.

(7) "Father's Illness" focuses on recalling the scene of treating his father's illness in his childhood, describing the attitude, style, and prescription of several "famous doctors", revealing the essence of these people's witch doctors, who do not distinguish between witch doctors, play tricks, extort money, and disregard human life.

(8) "Trivia" recalls that the family next door is good to the child on the surface, but in fact it is secretly bad Mrs. Yan, describing her as a selfish, treacherous, and evil-minded woman.

(9) "Mr. Fujino" records the author's study and life in Japan and the reasons why he decided to abandon medicine and pursue literature, expressing his deep nostalgia for Mr. Fujino.

(10) "Fan Ainong" describes Fan Ainong's dissatisfaction with the old society and his pursuit of revolution before the revolution, and his experience of being attacked and persecuted after the Xinhai Revolution, showing his disappointment in the old democratic revolution and his sympathy and mourning for this upright and stubborn patriot.

Background of the times

In 1925, when Lu Xun was a university lecturer in Beijing, he was attacked and ostracized by the so-called "righteous gentlemen" at that time for supporting the student movement. In 1926, the Beiyang warlord government shot and killed progressive students, creating the "March 18" tragedy. The author, Lu Xun, wrote a series of articles such as "In Memory of Liu He Zhenjun", enthusiastically supporting the students' just struggle and complaining about the brutality of the Beiyang warlord government. Although the works in "Morning Flowers and Sunset" are all reminiscing about the past, they are also "borrowing the theme to play", alluding to and ridiculing the social reality at that time.

Writing time

"Morning Flowers and Sunset" was written from February to November 1926, with a total of 10 articles. The first five articles were written in Beijing and the last five were written in Xiamen, and were successively published in the semi-monthly magazine "Mangyuan", with the general title of "Revisiting Old Things". In May 1927, when the collection was completed, it was renamed "Morning Flowers and Evening Picks", and made "Small Introduction", and in July he wrote "Postscript", which was printed by Beijing Weiming Society in 1928.

Although "Morning Flowers and Sunset" is written about personal life experience and mental journey, and is the remembrance and remembrance of relatives and teachers, it also goes beyond this to show the appearance of Chinese society in a specific historical era, and provides rich and detailed documents. This is beyond the reach of ordinary reminiscence essays. Because what is accustomed to these essays is only some purely personal so-called family affairs, children's love, purely personal ups and downs and emotional waves, the protagonist seems to be in a paradise, and he does not see the turbulent times and the drifting smoke of gunfire outside his body at all. Unlike some prose works, which help to understand the mentality of some intellectuals in a certain period, it is difficult to show the overall picture of the era in which they lived. Because the author has lofty ambitions and broad hearts, this makes the work show the close connection between writing about personal encounters and paying attention to the fate of the nation, showing not only the author's personal footprints but also the deeds of a historical era.

Character introduction

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Ah Chang from "A Chang and the Classic of Mountains and Seas"

Ah Chang is Lu Xun's childhood nanny, she doesn't sleep well, likes to cut and check, and also tramples on the dead Lu Xun's favorite hidden mouse, which makes Lu Xun feel bored with her, but when her sincere and kind side is shown, such as giving Lu Xun the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", Lu Xun can't help but feel respect and gratitude. Ah Chang is a typical rural working woman in feudal society, she is stout and hard-working, sincere and kind.

Father from "Five Rampant Society"

In "Five Rampant Meetings", the image of the "father" created by Lu Xun seems to be impersonal and somewhat different from reality, mainly set up to express the theme. The father takes advantage of the child's playful nature to force the child to endorse, which makes the child deeply shocked and leaves a psychological shadow, thus revealing the suppression and destruction of the child's nature by the feudal patriarchal system.

Mr. Fujino from "Mr. Fujino"

Mr. Fujino was a mentor whom Lu Xun greatly respected during his study in Japan. He was unkempt, but rigorous in his studies. His integrity and enthusiasm for Lu Xun's studies were in stark contrast to the contemptuous attitude of Japanese students towards Chinese students at the time. These noble qualities have always inspired Lu Xun to move forward bravely.

Fan Ainong from "Fan Ainong"

Fan Ainong was the image representative of a group of small intellectuals full of patriotic feelings in the society at that time, whose ups and downs were closely linked to the development of the times, and experienced the dissatisfaction with the darkness, the expectation of the revolution and the disappointment of the revolution, and the persecution of society and the embarrassment of life forced them into a desperate situation.

"Morning Flowers and Sunset" is a collection of essays with a distinct personality. This distinguishes it markedly from the work of many prose writers of the same period. It has an adaptable and uninhibited style, saying what you want to say, scolding when you want to, and all kinds of love, hatred, sorrow and joy in your heart are allowed to flow naturally under the pen. He closely integrates the expression methods of narrative, scene, argument and lyricism, so that the waves at the bottom of the pen show a kaleidoscopic situation. He is constantly innovating the format, so that each piece has a different structure. He inherited the simplicity and rigor of ancient Chinese prose, and borrowed the agility and wit of Western prose. All of these embody his characteristics as a pioneer of ideological emancipation and a standard-bearer of artistic innovation, and it is precisely because of this that "Morning Flowers and Sunset" has become a model work of modern Chinese reminiscence prose.

"Morning Flowers and Sunset" is Lu Xun's search for the power of light from the essence of his own life to resist the long darkness from the outside to the inside; it is Lu Xun's "rest" in a special way of "resting" during the interval of "battle" to "think more deeply" about the problems of life; and it is also the combination of words and aspirations and carrying the Tao, expanding the writing of modern Chinese prose to a new realm.