The story
A Madman's Diary (Kuangren riji) is a short story by Lu Xun, the pen name of Zhou Shuren, published in May 1918 in the Beijing magazine New Youth (Xin Qingnian). It was the first modern Chinese short story in vernacular Chinese (baihua), the everyday spoken language, rather than the classical literary style, and the first time Lu Xun used his pen name. The narrator, who believes the people around him want to eat him, keeps a diary of his fears.
Lu Xun had trained in medicine in Japan, then decided that China needed a change of mind more than a change of body and turned to writing. By 1918 China's last dynasty had fallen but the republic was weak, and intellectuals around New Youth, led by editor Chen Duxiu, attacked Confucian tradition as a cause of national weakness. The diarist, reading old history books, sees between the lines of 'benevolence and righteousness' the words 'eat people'. The story is partly based on Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman, whose title Lu Xun borrowed. It ends with the plea, 'Save the children.'
The story struck readers at once and became the opening piece of his collection Call to Arms (1923). It set the model for modern Chinese fiction, and the May Fourth Movement of 1919 carried the New Culture ideas further. Later Chinese leaders, including Mao Zedong, praised Lu Xun, though he died in 1936 before the Communist victory. His work is still taught throughout China and widely translated.
Why it mattered
- Vernacular Chinese became the normal language of literature, as the story proved it could carry serious fiction.
- The story gave the May Fourth New Culture Movement its most famous literary image of a society consuming its own young.
- Lu Xun became the model of the committed Chinese writer, quoted by critics and by politicians of many views.
- His short fiction opened the way for later modern Chinese writers, including Mo Yan, to find international readers.
Sources
- Diary of a Madman Britannica
- Preface to "Call to Arms" (Lu Xun) Marxists Internet Archive
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