Wandering (2017)

Name: Wandering (2017)
ISBN: 9787505741126

Lu XunChina Friendship Publishing Company · ChinaNov 2017

4.5

Word count: 85K words
Chapters: 14
ISBN: 9787505741126

Report an error Find this book

Summary

A Wandering Life (Panghuang) is Lu Xun's second collection of short stories, comprising eleven pieces he wrote between 1924 and 1925. The first, "The New Year's Sacrifice," was written on February 16, 1924; the last, "The Divorce," on November 6, 1925, so the actual span is more than a year and a half. The period in which Panghuang was written coincided with the ebb of the May Fourth movement, when the New Culture camp split internally. Running through the whole collection is a compassionate yet anguished concern for the peasants and intellectuals living under the crushing weight of feudal forces—"grieving their misfortunes, angered by their failure to fight."

Editor's review

A Wandering Life (Panghuang) is Lu Xun's second collection of short stories, following Call to Arms, and was published in 1926. This 2017 edition, brought out by China Friendship Publishing Company, offers contemporary readers a clear and reliable text. The volume collects eleven classic works, including "The New Year's Sacrifice," "In the Wine Shop," and "Regret for the Past," vividly capturing the spiritual predicaments and conditions of existence of intellectuals and ordinary people during the intense collision of old and new cultures after the May Fourth Movement.

From an editorial perspective, the value of this edition lies in the purity and readability of its text. It is free of excessive annotation, allowing Lu Xun's cold, incisive prose to speak directly to the reader. In Panghuang, the edge of Lu Xun's critique shifts from external feudal ethics toward the inner contradictions and struggles of his characters: Wei Lianshu's desperate resistance in "The Loner," the remorse and emptiness after the collapse of Zijun and Juansheng's love in "Regret for the Past." The depth of psychological portraiture reaches a new height. Reading Panghuang, we are not merely observing the story of an era but examining the eternal human questions of a way forward, responsibility, and self-realization. In today's fast-paced society, the characters' sense of wandering—"the dream is awakened, but there is no road to take"—still resonates powerfully, prompting us to reflect on our place within the currents of our time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of literature and history who wish to understand the intellectual climate of Chinese society after the May Fourth Movement
Readers interested in studying classic literature and the techniques of modern fiction
Young people at a crossroads in life or feeling lost who hope to find resonance and insight in literature
Students at secondary school level and above who wish to deepen their reading and grasp the essence of Lu Xun's work

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment and the fast pace of online fiction
Readers entirely unfamiliar with, or resistant to, the Republican-era historical background and the semi-classical language style

Reading tips

Reading in order is recommended: begin with "The New Year's Sacrifice" and "In the Wine Shop" to absorb their narrative atmosphere, then move on to pieces with more intense inner conflict, such as "The Loner" and "Regret for the Past."
There is no need to rush toward a "correct answer"; instead, focus on the contradictions between characters' words and deeds and their social environment, and appreciate Lu Xun's creative intent to "reveal the suffering and draw attention to its cure."
Reading alongside Wild Grass, the prose-poetry collection Lu Xun wrote during the same period, will give a more complete grasp of the complex and profound world of thought and feeling he inhabited at this time.

About the publisher

China Friendship Publishing Company China · Founded in 1983

China Friendship Publishing Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its literary titles, covering classical Chinese literature, foreign literature, folk literature and cultural appreciation. According to the books in the database, its classical list includes celebrated dramas and novels such as The Peony Pavilion, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, as well as note-style classics like Hong Mai's Rongzhai Suibi. In foreign literature it offers translations of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country and Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, involving translators such as Zeng Siyi. It also publishes The Complete Literary Works of Lu Xun and titles associated with the "Xue'er Shuguan" editorial group, balancing the collation and popularization of classic texts. Public information on its publishing features and plans is limited; the above is summarized only from the books in the database.

版权信息
导读
祝福
在酒楼上
幸福的家庭
肥皂
长明灯
示众
高老夫子
孤独者
伤逝
弟兄
离婚
鲁迅先生年谱

FAQ

What is the main difference between Panghuang and Call to Arms?

Call to Arms was written at the height of the May Fourth Movement; its tone is more impassioned, aiming to "awaken those sleeping in the iron house," and it mostly exposes social maladies. Panghuang was written after the movement's ebb and focuses more on awakened intellectuals' sense of powerlessness, loneliness, and wandering in the face of reality; its depth of introspection and critique is further intensified.

What kind of figure is Sister Xianglin in "The New Year's Sacrifice"?

Sister Xianglin is a tragic archetype of a woman at the bottom of rural society in old China. Hardworking and kind all her life, she suffers the blows of her husband's death and then her son's, and is treated as "unclean" and despised under the patriarchal ethical code. Her misery stems not only from poverty but, more deeply, from the oppression of feudal ideology (political, clan, religious, and marital authority). Her question about whether souls exist is a bitter indictment of the entire feudal ethical system.

Why is "Regret for the Past" said to be Lu Xun's only story with love as its theme?

Written in diary form, "Regret for the Past" delicately depicts the love tragedy of Juansheng and Zijun, who break free of feudal families to pursue free love but are ultimately undone by economic hardship and spiritual estrangement. It transcends a simple love story, probing the social question of "what happens after Nora leaves," and points out that individual liberation divorced from socioeconomic liberation is illusory—embodying Lu Xun's profound reflection on the Enlightenment itself.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Lu Xun Author · China · 1881–1936

Lu Xun, originally named Zhou Shuren and styled Yucai, was a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and a leading modern Chinese writer and thinker as well as a representative figure of the New Culture Movement. With works such as "A Madman's Diary" and "The True Story of Ah Q," he laid the foundation of modern Chinese fiction. His writing often focuses on the spiritual condition of ordinary people and on social reality, in a cold, concise style rich in critique and self-reflection. His story collections "Call to Arms" and "Wandering" and his prose collection "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk" are widely read, and his works are often classified as classics, social fiction, and documentary literature. The library holds as many as 499 editions of his works, showing that they continue to be read, anthologized, and circulated. Public information is limited, so this is only a brief account of his life's key points and creative character.