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Authors

Chuangshi Wei

Abstract

During his stay in Japan, Lu Xun connected the spiritual evolutionary origins in Haeckel's theory with Nietzsche's conceptualization of “savage” as well as the idea of “ancient people”. This thread of spirituality was ultimately articulated through the concept of the “voice of heart”. Moreover, summoning the “voice of heart” from the people became a crucial aspect of Lu Xun's exploration of the national character reform. However, unlike the “evolutionary teleology” centered on Christian theology in the West, Lu Xun's version of “evolutionary teleology” emphasized the decisive role of the will to life in the process of summoning the “voice of heart”, a theme clearly demonstrated in his Japanese-period translation Silence. Nonetheless, the premise of relying on the will to life to summon the people's “voice of heart” proved difficult to implement in reality. In The True Story of Ah Q, written after a series of setbacks, Ah Q, in the face of execution — a situation resembling the extreme condition in Silence — fails to generate an abundant “voice of heart”. Indeed, in the face of pervasive darkness, the neatly framed “evolutionary teleology” loses its efficacy. The vitality of Lu Xun's literature lies precisely in his profound engagement with and sober acknowledgment of darkness itself.

Keywords

Lu Xun, “evolutionary teleology”, “voice of heart”, Silence, Ah Q

First Page

31

Last Page

38

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