Short stories · A way to begin
Diary of a Madman
狂人日記
Lu Xun · 1918
Synopsis
A short note in classical language introduces the text: a former schoolmate of the narrator hands him the diary of his brother, who was ill, has recovered and now holds an official post. Thirteen fragments follow. The diarist notices that the Zhao family's dog stares at him, that the villagers whisper, that his elder brother has brought in a doctor who takes his pulse. He rereads a history book and sees, between the words “virtue and morality”, two other words that recur everywhere: eat people.
Context
The text appeared in 1918 in the journal New Youth, in April (in May according to the New World Encyclopedia). It was the first publication signed Lu Xun, a name taken from his mother's surname; the author had already published essays, translations and a short story in 1913. A preface in classical Chinese opens thirteen fragments in the spoken language, a form borrowed from a short story by Gogol of the same title. Often regarded as the first modern short story in the vernacular, although some cite a story by Chen Hengzhe published six months earlier, it opens the author's first collection.
Who it is for
A short story in thirteen fragments, to be read in one sitting; a little background on the China of 1918 helps in grasping it.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the founding text of modern Chinese fiction; Britannica sees its author as the greatest Chinese writer of the twentieth century.
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