introduction

Last year's earthquake in Japan caused great damage, and Dr. Chukawa's suffering was one of them.

Dr. Chukawa's name is Tatsuo, and his name is Hakumura. I don't know much about his life, and I haven't seen a systematic biography. But picking it up from the sporadic text, I know that he graduated from Osaka Prefectural No. 1 High School and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a bachelor's degree in arts; After that, he lived in Kumamoto and Tokyo for three years, and finally settled in Kyoto, where he became a professor at the Third High School. About because of a serious illness, he once cut off one of his feet, but he was still able to travel to the United States and go to North Korea; Pingju concentrated on learning and wrote a lot. It is said that his temperament is extremely warm, and he thinks that "if the medicine is dizzy, faint, and sick", he has a lot of painful attacks on the lack of his country. Most of the essays are collected in "Mr. Koizumi and Others", "Out of the Ivory Tower", and "Towards the Cross Street" collected and printed after his death. In addition, as far as I know, there are "Impressions of North America", "Ten Lectures on Modern Literature", "Theory of Literary and Artistic Thoughts", "Modern Concept of Love", "Selected Interpretations of English Poetry", etc.

But these were only a small part of what he had, and the rest was lost with his life.

This "Symbol of Bitterness" is also a posthumous manuscript that was printed after his death, and although it is not yet final, it is largely complete. The first part, "Theory of Creation", is the original evidence, and the second part, "Theory of Appreciation", is actually a theory of criticism, and the last two points are nothing more than inevitable theories derived from "Theory of Creation". As for the main theme, it is also very clear, in the author's own words, that is, "the bitterness and frustration born of the suppressed vitality is the root of literature and art, and its expression is symbolism in a broad sense." However, "the so-called symbolists are by no means the doctrines that were once flaunted by the French poetry circle at the end of the last century, and all literature and art, throughout the ages, have used symbolist expressions in this sense." According to Bergson's first-class philosophy, the author regards the endless vitality as the foundation of human life, and finds the root of the vitality from Frott's first-class science, that is, to explain literature and art,——especially literature. However, there is a slight difference from the old theory, Bergson regards the future as unpredictable, the author takes the poet as the prophet, Frott attributes the root of life force to sexual desire, and the author is the rush and leap of his force. In the current group of books of the same kind, it can be said that it is different from the arbitrariness of a scientist and the mystery of a philosopher, and it is also not as complicated as the ordinary literary commentator. The author himself is very original, so this book has become a kind of creation, and for literature and art, that is, there are many unique insights and deep understanding.

Unless there is a great spirit of imagination, there is no great art. But how sluggish is China's current spirit? Although this translation is clumsy, it is fortunate that the substance is good, and if the reader can repeat it patiently two or three times, he will be able to see many meaningful places: this is why I have taken the liberty of translating it,—— and naturally it is too extravagant to hope.

The text is probably a literal translation, and it is very willing to preserve the tone of the original text as well. But I am a layman in Chinese grammar, and there must be a lot of non-conforming sentences in it. Among them, it is especially necessary to state that the word "of" is not used in several places, but the word "bottom" is used. That is, where an adjective is joined with a noun to form a term, the word "bottom" is used in between, such as Social bei

g for social bottom beings, Psychische T

auma for mental damage, etc.; In addition, if the adjective is transferred from another kind of product, and the ending has -tive, -tic, etc., the word "bottom" is also used below, such as Specula^tive,

oma

tic, it is written as the bottom of thought, romandy.

Here I should also thank my friends for their great help, especially Xu Jijun's English; Chang Weijun is in French, and he also translated a "necklace" from the original text and attached it to the back of the volume for the reader's reference; Tao Xuanqingjun specially made a picture to make this book in a poignant new dress.

On the night of November 22, 1924, Lu Xun was in Beijing.

Translation of "The Symbol of Bitterness" in the last three days

The author of this book, Shiramura Chefkawa, was tragically killed during the Great Japanese Earthquake, and this is an unfinished package excavated from the ruins of his Kamakura Residence. Because it is unfinalized, the editor, Shuji Yamamoto, is also deeply concerned about making it public, or it is not the author's original wish. But it was finally printed, and the book originally had no title, and was named "The Symbol of Bitterness" by the editor. Actually, it's a literary theory.

It is divided into four parts: the first is the theory of creation, the second is the theory of appreciation, the third is the investigation of the fundamental problems of literature and art, and the fourth is the origin of literature. The main thrust of this is clearly stated by the author himself in the fourth chapter of the first part: the anguish and frustration caused by the suppression of vitality is the root of literature and art, and its expression is symbolism in a broad sense.

Because this is necessary for me to translate, I started the day before yesterday, I thought it would be easy, but it was also difficult to translate. But I had no choice but to translate and publish it; And because of other necessities, I am afraid that there will be some omitted places such as citations.

If there is a chance to reprint it in the future, he vows to add it to it, so that he will complete the book. As for the badness of the translation, it is impossible to think of it, and it is just a matter of being scolded.

September 26, 1924 Lu Xun.

Translator's Note on the Joy of Seeing Yourself

Baudelaire's prose poems, which were translated into Japanese in the original book; But I use Max B

u

o A comparison of the German translation shows several differences. Now let's refer to two books and translate them into Chinese. If there is one who corrects me according to the original text, it is a matter of great hope and great gratitude. Otherwise, I would like to find a friend who knows French in the future to revise him; But for now, it's perfunctory.

October 1, translator's note.

Translator's Note on the Infinite in the Finite

I don't know a word of French, so for VA

Le

be

GHE's song is helpless. Now Cheng Chang Weijun has translated it for me, which is really touchable; However, I also wanted to take on the burden of translating Portlaire's prose poems. When the public who wants to help others in the world hears it, they should also sigh in unison. October 17, translator's note.

Translator's Note on The Four Stages of Literary Appreciation

What I wanted to omit earlier was a few passages in this verse, but they are still fully translated, so that the "other necessity" mentioned in the preface is not implemented, because by the time it is translated, it is no longer necessary. October 4th, translator's note.

2. Preface and Afterword (2)

Out of the Ivory Tower

postscript

It has been exactly one year since I translated and printed "The Symbol of Bitterness" by Shiramura Chukawa; His brief history has already been said in the "Introduction" of that book, and there is nothing else to say now. At that time, I successively selected and translated his papers from "Out of the Ivory Tower", which appeared in several journals, and now I have collected them again, and this is it. But several of them are newly translated; There are a few articles that are not related to the grand purpose, such as "The Theory of Games", "The Main Tide of Nineteen ****", etc., because the former is related to a section in "The Symbol of Bitterness", and the latter article has been published, so they are all added. However, there is a short essay after "Literature Describing the Labor Problem" in the original book, which is in response to an inquiry from the Waseda Literary Society, entitled "Writers and Statesmen." It is to the effect that literature and politics are activities based on the deep and serious inner life of the people, so literary scholars should always step on the territory of real life, and politicians should always deeply understand literature and art, and be close to literary scholars.

I think this is certainly reasonable, but to talk about this matter with China's current politicians and bureaucrats is to play the harp to the cow; As for the proximity of the two, there are often many ugliness and evil deeds in Beijing, and they are all played out in this new and dark shadow, but I can't think of a good sign as the author says,—— and our scribes are particularly frugal in their thinking. Because of his biased hatred, he no longer came to translate and add to it, so the only one missing in the whole book. Fortunately, this was originally for teenagers and girls, and each article is not necessarily linked, and it doesn't hurt if it's missing.

The allusion to the "Ivory Tower" has already been seen in the preface and in this article, so there is no need to say more. But what will happen after it comes out? It is explained in the preface to his second collection of essays, "Towards the Cross Street", fortunately, it is not long, and it is translated in its entirety below:-

"What about the east and the west, and the north and the south? And then what about the new? What about retreating to the past? To the way of the Spirit? Go to the place where the flesh is desired? Looking left and right, imitating those who wander the cross streets, this is exactly the heart of modern people. ‘To be o

ot to be，that is the questio

。 I am over forty years old, and I am still obsessed with the way of life. I myself am standing on the crossroads. Temporarily out of the ivory tower, standing in the alley of harassment, let's say what you want to say. With this meaning, the inscription is written in the words of the cross street.

"As human life and art, these are the two paths so far. I stood at the point where the two roads met and became a square, and I tried to think about it, in the English studies that I was close to, whether it was Shelley, Perlen, Swambon, or Meredith, or Hadui, they were all critics of civilization with the ideal of social transformation; It's not just about living in ivory towers. This is not the same as French literature and the like. Morris, for example, literally went out into the streets to make a discussion. Some people say that the modern world of thought has hit a wall. However, there is no wall at all, just standing on the cross street, and there are many roads. ”

But the book was published after the author's death in the earthquake, and the content was a little more messy than the previous one, or it was not taken by the person who had taken it even though he had prepared a preface.

There is still too much disharmony that creation has endowed mankind. This is not only in the flesh, people can have lofty and wonderful ideals, and the world can not have a reality that is not in case of emergency, accompanied by experience, the conflict will become clear day by day, so in the courage to think, fifty years of life will hate too long, so there are sharp turns, there are depression, there are imitations; However, it may just be a cross street to send the rest of his life to the end.

Naturally, there are many people who live to eighty or ninety with dough and are peaceful and have no afflictions, but this is a figure who was born specifically to be praised by the Chinese Ministry of the Interior, and it must be said otherwise.

If the author is not harmed by the earthquake, then among the many roads outside the tower, he should always choose one and move forward bravely, but unfortunately it is impossible to speculate now. However, from the book, especially the first three most important articles, it seems that the warrior was born as a soldier, and he has been bitterly attacked and criticized without pretense in the world of his own country, such as warmth, middle way, compromise, falsehood, pettiness, arrogance, and conservatism. Even from the eyes of us foreigners, we often feel that there is a "quick knife to cut the mess", as for the can't help but be happy.

But on the one hand, some people are happy, and on the other hand, some people are embarrassed; It's not a bad thing to be ashamed, because there are many people who don't sweat together. However, there are always many critics of civilization who have more resentment. I once met a student of the author, who is said to have been not liked by the average person in his life, probably because of his arrogant attitude and his words. I have no way of judging right from wrong, but perhaps the author is not arrogant, but the average person is too modest, for modesty that pretends to be lower than the real price and arrogance that is exalted higher are both false, and now modesty is considered a virtue. However, after the author's death, six volumes of his complete works have been published, which shows that there are still a few comrades in Japan who have assembled and many people who read them, and the elegance that accommodates such criticism; This is not very easy to exist in China with critics who dare to examine, attack, and spur on themselves in this way.

I did not translate this book to expose the shortcomings of my neighbors and talk about the happiness of the Bo people.

China does not have the ambition to "take chaos and humiliate it" now, and I do not feel that it has a mission to spy on the weaknesses of other countries, so there is no need to commit to it. But when I watched him reprimand himself, it was as if the pain had reached me, and then it was like taking a cold medicine. People born in the old country, if they were not blessed with great fortune and would have been praised by the Ministry of the Interior in the future, would probably always feel a kind of swelling and pain, like having unbroken sores. Those who have never tasted sores and those who have not been cured by cutting may not know; Otherwise, you will understand that the wound of a cut is much more pleasant than the swelling and pain of an uncut one. Is this the so-called "pleasure"? I just want to use this to remind the swelling and pain first, and then distribute this "pain" to the people with the same disease.

It is true that the author blames his country for not having an original civilization and for not having outstanding figures. Their culture was first learned from China, and then from Europe. Not only does the character not have holes and ink, but even those who are monks can't compare to Xuanzang. After the popularity of Lanxue, there were no scholars of the same generation as Linna, Naiduan, and Darwin; However, in botany, seismology, and medicine, they have already made considerable achievements, and perhaps the author has deliberately erased them because he is suffering from a "self-righteous disease". But all in all, there is no inherent civilization and great world figures; When the friendship between the two countries is very bad, our commentators often laugh at it and talk about the hearts of the people for a while. However, I think that this is the only way that Japan can be what it is today, because there are few old things, and there is not much attachment, and it is very easy to transform when the times change, and it is suitable for survival at any time. Unlike the surviving ancient kingdoms, relying on the inherent and outdated civilization, everything is hardened, and finally it is about to come to the road of destruction. If China does not carry out thorough reforms, Japan's fortune will always last long, and this is what I believe. And to think that to decline and perish for the children of the old family is no more glorious than to survive for the new riche, the developed.

When it comes to China's reforms, the first book is naturally to stray waste in order to create a chance for the birth of new life. The May Fourth Movement was also the beginning of this opportunity, but unfortunately it was a pity that many of them were destroyed. The criticism after the fact, the countrymen probably said it lukewarmly, or indiscriminately, and foreigners thought it was quite meaningful at the beginning, but there were also attacks, according to Yun, because they did not take into account the national character and history, so they were worthless.

This is much the same nonsense as most of China's rhetoric, because none of them are reformers themselves.

Isn't that reform? History is a relic of the past, national character can be transformed into the future, and in the eyes of reformers, what has been past and what is present is completely equal to nothing. In this book, there are words that mean so.

Just as Japan sent "envoys to the Tang Dynasty" in the past, China also has many students who have gone to Europe, the United States, and Japan. Now every time I see the word "Shakespeare" in the article, it is about a long way away, from a foreign land. However, eat big dishes, don't talk about political affairs, fortunately, the works of Owen, Diegensi, and Defu Luhua have been translated by Lin Shu. As a Chinese person who buys and sells arms, he acts as a translator for traveling officials, and he has his own motorcycle pad under his hips, and this culture is indeed new.

Their envoys seem to be a little different, and they are a little different from us. Therefore, although Japan adopted many Chinese civilizations, there was no need to be late in criminal law, there were still no eunuchs in the court, and women finally did not bind their feet.

However, they have also taken too much, and the author's accusations of tepidity, middle way, compromise, falsehood, stinginess, arrogance, conservatism and other state of the world can be suspected of talking about China. Especially if you can't do anything, you can't do anything, and you don't have the bottom line; Everything must be from the spirit to the flesh, living with the ghost. All those, if not infected by our China, that is, people who swim in the Eastern civilization are like this, it is really like the so-called "compare good flowers to beauty, not only Chinese have such a concept, Westerners, Indians also have the same concept". But we do not need to discuss the origin of these, since the author thinks that this is a serious disease, after diagnosis, a little prescription is prescribed, then in China, the same disease, can be used for the reference or consumption of young girls, just as cinchona cream can cure malaria in Japan, that is, in the same way that it can cure Chinese.

I remember that during the "Fist Rebellion" (Gengzi), outsiders often said that China was bad, but now I often hear them praise China's ancient civilization. The time when China became a paradise for their unbridled pleasures seemed to be on the verge of an end; I abhor those appreciations. However, there is nothing happier than being a traveler, and when I lived in Japan before, I went to Matsushima to see the cherry blossoms in the spring and the pine trees and snow in the winter. However, even if you feel it, you probably won't be so resentful. It's a pity that since returning to China, this transcendent state of mind has been completely lost.

The names of Western people and books cited in this book are now annotated in the original text for the reader's reference. But this is a difficult thing for me, because the author specializes in English studies, and naturally the most cited characters and works are British and American, and I am indifferent to English. All these jobs were done by Wei Suyuan, Wei Congwu, Li Jiye, and Xu Jihuang; And the proofreading of the whole book, I am very grateful to them for their kindness.

The text is still translated literally, in the same way that I have always taken; I also tried my best to preserve the tone of the original book, and I probably didn't even reverse the order of the sentences. As for the reason for the use of the word "bottom" in a few places, it is the same as the translation of "The Symbol of Suffering", and the explanation of this word in the "Introduction" is now shown below:——

“…… Where an adjective is joined to form a noun to form a one, the word 'bottom' is used in between, e.g. social bei

g for social bottom beings, Psy^chische T

a-uma for mental injury, etc.; In addition, if the adjective is transferred from another kind of word, and the ending has -tive, -tic, etc., the word 'bottom' is also used below, such as specula-tive,

oma

tic, it is written as the bottom of thought, romandy. ”

On the night of December 3, 1925, Lu Xun.

Translator's Note on the Life of Pleasure

The author's fierce attack on the shortcomings of his country, is really a thunderbolt. But probably because the same country was founded in Yadong, the situation is roughly similar, and the key point he sniped is, I think, often the key point of China's illness; This is something we can use to think deeply and reflect.

December 5th Translator.

Translator's Note on From Spirit to Flesh and From Flesh to Spirit

This is also an article in "Out of the Ivory Tower", which is dedicated to criticizing the flaws of his favorite home country, Japan. However, I think that except for the first section attacking the hotel system and the third section attacking the festival of feeding and feeding ceremonies, which have nothing to do with China, most of the others are aimed at the hidden diseases of all of us now, especially the so-called spiritual civilization that is very conceited. Now I'm going to import it again as a laxative from a foreign pharmacy.

December 14, 1924, translator's note.

Translator's Note on The Main Tide of Modern Literature

This is also one of the articles in "Out of the Ivory Tower", which was written in January 1919. From the present point of view, the world is not as optimistic as the author predicted, but there are a few parts that are to the point. and the concise explanation of "spiritual adventure" and the insights on literature at the end can also be used as a reference for many people, so I turned him out.

January 16th.