Qin Nairui is the son-in-law of Lu Xun's main "rival" Chen Yuan (pen name Chen Xiying). Long-term director and professor of Chinese Department of Edinburgh University. He loved China and China culture, and observed Lu Xun's thoughts and text world deeply for more than 50 years.
Recently, the reporter interviewed Professor Jiaping Wang, the translator of the book, the doctoral supervisor of Capital Normal University and an expert on Lu Xun.
He said that Lu Xun's biographies have been published for decades, but most of them are highly ideologically symbolized images of Lu Xun, and the disadvantages of this conceptualization are still continuing today. At the same time, people of insight in the academic circles began the work of "restoring Lu Xun" and "returning to Lu Xun's text", trying to pull Lu Xun back from the shrine and restore the "dialogue relationship" between Lu Xun and people. This critical biography of Lu Xun written by Qin Nairui reflects this return.
Lu Xun is obsessed with his work, so he doesn't eat fish with thorns.
Jiaping Wang believes that "Qin Nairui writes all kinds of life experiences and ideological creations of Lu Xun from the perspective of equality rather than looking up", and he tries to enrich the characters with historical materials closer to life.
In the book, Qin Nairui used a lot of space to describe Lu Xun's daily life: "Lu Xun's daily life started very late, and sometimes he didn't get up until 1 1." "Lu Xun likes to eat meat and fish. But he doesn't eat fish with thorns, because people who are obsessed with work like him think that removing fishbones is unnecessary trouble and a waste of time. " "Lu Xun is very particular about books. He often tidies up the bookshelves, trying to find out which books are at his hand ... Lu Xun also wrapped them in wax paper to prevent them from getting dirty. He also preserved his manuscript in this way. "
Compared with other writers, Lu Xun's life seems to arouse the research interest of current scholars. In this regard, Jiaping Wang said: "This is because previous studies have paid too little attention to Lu Xun's life as a man rather than a god."
A new perspective on the breakdown of Zhou brothers' relationship
Jiaping Wang thinks that this book is not a pure academic monograph, and its academic breakthrough in Lu Xun's research is not outstanding, but it still has a unique exposition in some aspects of Lu Xun's life and creation. For example, Qin Nairui put forward a unique view on the important issue of the breakdown of the brotherly relationship between Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren.
Qin Nairui speculated in the book: "No matter whether Yu Taizi accused Lu Xun of molesting her or not, there must be something unpleasant between her and Lu Xun." He attributed "unhappiness" to two reasons: "Lu Xun sometimes asked some necessary questions about family expenses, which made Yu Taixin, the housekeeper, hate Lu Xun gradually"; People who get help in the family will resent their dependence in the future.
According to Qin Nairui's account in the book, although Yu Taizi looked down on Zhou, he regarded Zhou brothers as economic backers, tried every means to narrow the distance between his sister Fang Zi and Zhou, even got Fang Zi drunk, locked Fang Zi and Zhou in a room, and finally fixed the marriage. "This is a novel perspective," Jiaping Wang said.
Qin Nairui believes that Zhou Zuoren has always been taken care of by Lu Xun, thus living in the shadow of his eldest brother and forming a certain depressive psychology; After the conflict between Yutai Mako and Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren was completely on his wife's side. "Qin Nairui pointed out that although there is no doubt about Zhou Zuoren's creative talent, he lacks the spirit and backbone of his eldest brother."
Lu Xun's excessive deification and indifference are all out of ignorance.
"Since 1936, after the death of Mr. Lu Xun, Lu Xun has been increasingly sanctified. In the 1960 s and 1970 s, Lu Xun became one of the most prominent gods on the altar of thought. " Jiaping Wang said that readers in China basically contacted Lu Xun from textbooks instead of reading his collected works directly, and Lu Xun was above them. Today, most primary and secondary school teachers still overemphasize the ideological significance of Lu Xun's criticism of the old society, but fail to show the cultural significance of Lu Xun's own life and the aesthetic artistic value of his works.
In recent years, Lu Xun's articles have "retreated" from Chinese textbooks, and voices questioning Lu Xun's literary value have also been issued from time to time, frequently causing controversy. In this regard, Jiaping Wang bluntly said: "In the past, we praised Lu Xun too much and sanctified him out of ignorance; The indifference and criticism of him now is out of misunderstanding and ignorance. "
Jiaping Wang said that Lu Xun has always been very popular in the international academic circles, "because he is a writer in China with a long history of civilization, and because his works can best present the daily life and spiritual conditions of modern people in China".
Jiaping Wang thinks that Lu Xun has a greater influence on Japanese and Korean literature than European and American countries. "Nobel Prize in Literature-winning Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe admits that Lu Xun is his spiritual mentor. In his mind, Lu Xun is one of the most important writers in the world. "
The pen battle between father-in-law and Lu Xun
maintain neutrality
1970, Qin Nairui married Chen Xiying's daughter Chen Xiaoying. In the mid-1920s, Lu Xun and Chen Xiying launched a pen battle around the "Women's Normal University Incident". How does the son-in-law evaluate this pen battle? Jiaping Wang said, "Qin Nairui doesn't like his father-in-law. He insists on the neutral position that scholars should have. "
According to Qin Nairui, the difference between Chen Xiying and Lu Xun lies in the fact that the former wants to adopt rational compromise instead of violent revolution. The book writes, "He believes that the vicious conflict that occurred in women's normal universities is not conducive to solving the problem at all, on the contrary, it can only be counterproductive."
1926, tired of writing, Chen Xiying put down his pen. Qin Nairui does not deny that Lu Xun is the winner of this war. "But Qin Nairui also said that this statement really simplifies the debate between Lu Xun and Chen Xiying." It is believed that Qin Nairui regards Lu and Chen as representatives of different literati groups, so as to analyze the causes and results of the debate. "In the debate, there are scholars and celebrities behind Lu Xun and Chen Xiying who support them in secret; The so-called two sides of the debate actually reflect the internal division of young intellectuals who lived on the same front in the past. "
"Qin Nairui noticed that the female normal university president and Chen Xiying are both from Wuxi, Jiangsu. This is no coincidence, so he wrote in his book:' There are some regional sectarian factors at work behind this debate.' Jiaping Wang pointed out that, in addition, Qin Nairui is still analyzing the causes of the pen war from internal concepts, intellectual groups and other aspects, explaining the conflict from the differences in values, and the analysis is more objective and fair.
Describing their differences in the book, Qin Nairui pointed out that although Chen Xiying and Lu Xun had different views on the "Women's Normal University Incident", he appreciated Lu Xun's literary achievements very much. He once commented: "Ah Q is not only a type, but also a lively person. He is as lively and interesting as jy, Lu and Granny Liu, and will probably be as immortal in the future. " In this regard, Jiaping Wang said: "Many people think that the' pen war' is a fierce mutual attack, but this is not the case. Qin Nairui's description helps to eliminate this misunderstanding. "