A Madman's Diary

A Madman's Diary

A copy of A Madman's Diary in the Beijing Lu Xun Museum
Author	Lu Xun
Original title	狂人日記
Language	Chinese
Published	April 1918

Image of Lu Xun, author of "A Madman's Diary"

"A Madman's Diary" (Chinese: 狂人日記; pinyin: Kuángrén Rìjì) is a short story published in 1918 by Lu Xun, a Chinese writer. It was the first and most influential modern work written in vernacular Chinese in the republican era, and would become a cornerstone piece of the New Culture Movement. It is placed first in Call to Arms, a collection of short stories by Lu Xun. The story was often referred to as "China's first modern short story".^[1] This book was selected as one of the 100 best books in history by the Bokklubben World Library. It was also among the contenders in a 2014 list by The Telegraph of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels.^[2]

Lu Xun was an avant-garde Chinese writer who was celebrated for his fictional works that illustrates social and political criticism of early 20th century Chinese society and one amongst his great works of is the “Diary of a Madman”. The story established a new language and revolutionary figure of Chinese literature, an attempt to challenge the conventional thinking and traditional understanding.

The diary form was inspired by Nikolai Gogol's short story "Diary of a Madman", as was the idea of the madman who sees reality more clearly than those around him. The "madman" sees "cannibalism" both in his family and the village around him, and he then finds cannibalism in the Confucian classics which had long been credited with a humanistic concern for the mutual obligations of society, and thus for the superiority of Confucian civilization. The story was read as an ironic attack on traditional Chinese culture and a call for a New Culture.

Historical context[]

The beginning of 20th century marks a tumultuous time in Chinese history. During this time, there was an immense outcry against western influence and China was under a national unrest. However, the massive social changes remarkably shift the development of Chinese literature and a new source of linguistic system emerged known as baihua.

As a prominent intellectual and an important member of May Fourth Movement, and referred as "The Father of Modern Chinese Literature",^[3] Lu Xun’s contribution to Chinese literature exhibited a radical change in Chinese language.^[4] Lu Xun, professed in his works, demonstrated his pursuit of cultural change and aims to promote modern literature.  During the New Culture movement, the orthodox system of writing was replaced by the vernaculars.^[4] Lu Xun adopted a new sense of literary writing style and founded the modern Chinese literature. His anti-traditionalism and his call to break the hold of traditional Confucianism in Chinese society was conveyed in his short stories.  One of his works, “Diary of a madman” reveals the contemporary issues and social structure revolves around the society of Post-Revolution China. During this time, China was under the influence of Confucianism whereby rules and social hierarchy are being uphold to any individual or group.^[4]

Establishment of Báihuà[]

When the New Culture Movement (also known as the May Fourth Movement) emerged, many intellectuals argued that China needed to transform into a modern country. Intellectuals and writers declared a literary revolution to refashion the traditional system of writing. Officials who promoted baihua argued that "education for the whole population was necessary to establish democracy and science in China, and education required widespread literacy" (Chen, 1999).^[5][6] Hu Shih, an important figure in the May Fourth Movement and a prolific writer in modern china, founded a movement known as "New Literature Movement" in 1917. The movement sought to build a reformed version of Chinese script replacing the classical Chinese so ordinary Chinese could afford to learn and understand it. Thus, a new writing system was established called baihua.^[7]

Baihua was a vernacular literary language that was popularly used in folk stories, plays and commonly used as a everyday spoken language. Some scholars appealed to replace the traditional wenyan, and use baihua as a standard of writing and communication among the general population. During the Reform Movement of 1898, some development towards the application of baihua was found in newspaper and magazines.

The Diary of Madman was a famous and exemplary work of literature composed in May Fourth-style, presented as the fragments of a diary written in the vernacular language by the diarist. Baihua become a standard kind of written Chinese in 1940s.^[6]

Synopsis[]

The story was inspired by “Diary of a madman” written by Nikolai Gogol in 1834.^[8] As the title suggests, the story outlines a diary written by a madman. The allegory was conveyed by a first-person narrator.^[9] The prose begins when the narrator who has been friends with two brothers whom he lost communication many years ago. After a period of time, he learned that one of his friends suffers with an illness and decided to visit him. When he arrives, the other brother greets him and tells him that his brother is no longer ill. He handed him his brother’s diary for him to further understand what he went through.

The diary follows a “Madman" character who suffers a “persecution complex”, imprisoned in his home. He believes that the people surround him, including his brother and neighbors, are cannibals who desire to eat his fellow humans. "Madman" repeatedly tried to persuade the cannibals around him to change themselves, to "change from the heart", and said that "you should know that cannibal will not be allowed to live in the world in the future", which is probably Lu Xun's hope for the future world through the mouth of "Madman". This incident eventually grows to paranoia. The story sets in a remote village that is secluded from the outside world, a common feature to Lu Xun’s stories. Being skeptical to his surroundings, the madman becomes suspicious of everyone’s actions including people’s stares, doctor’s treatment, his brother’s behavior and even dog barks.^[4] He spent his days reading Confucius classics, with the words “Virtue and Morality" written on each page, but also observes the words “Eat People” between the lines.^[10] These sinister thoughts keep him awake at night.  While agonizing over the things happened, things he saw and conversations he heard, the madman becomes convinced that everyone around him participates in cannibalism.

The diary was composed of 13 fragments where each entry reveals the development of the plot. In every entries, the character’s fear and wariness were evident. He states, “I have to be extremely careful…I fear with reason”.^[8][10] The story presents itself as diary entries (in Vernacular Chinese) of a madman who, according to the foreword, written in Classical Chinese, has now been cured of his paranoia. After extensively studying the Four books and five classics of old Confucian culture, the diary writer, the supposed "madman", begins to see the words "Eat People!" (吃人; chīrén) written between the lines of the texts (in classical Chinese texts, commentary was placed between the lines of the text, rather than in notes at the bottom of a page). Seeing the people in his village as potential man-eaters, he is gripped by the fear that everyone, including his brother, his venerable doctor and his neighbors, who are crowding about watching him, are harboring cannibalistic thoughts about him. Despite the brother's apparently genuine concern, the narrator still regards him as a big threat, as big as any stranger. Towards the end the narrator turns his concern to the younger generation, especially his late sister (who died when she was five) as he is afraid they will be cannibalized. By then he is convinced that his late sister had been eaten up by his brother, and that he himself might have unwittingly tasted her flesh. Lu Xun’s perfect use of imagery and metaphor serves as symbolical interpretation of his contempt for Chinese tradition.

The story concludes with and enigmatic ending with a plea to “Save the children”. It also reflects his concern for the next generation and his worries about the education situation at that time.

Reception from readers[]

Far from its success and dominance in Chinese literature, Lu Xun’s stories took five years before it was widely recognized as a notable piece of writing. Before he published the "Diary", Lu Xun was hopeless and in complete despair. His state of mind was unknown to the readers while he was writing the “Diary”, except to the few individuals who are close to him. Thus, reading the Diary, with the use of foreign techniques, was not easily comprehensible to the audience. The theme of cannibalism, in notion of “eating oneself”, sparked intrigue and criticism among the readers due to its ambiguity and come across as very strong, controversial talking point. The author's attempt to cure the cultural malaise exists in Chinese tradition through his writings was not easily embraced by the readers. However, the "unprecedented" nature of the story and its silent arrival captures the attention of many authors and spectators. Overall, it serves as an account of historical change and biting social satire. Lu Xun's short stories were recognized as a significant work of Chinese modern classics, as it evokes a power struggle, social structure and issues in political sphere.

Literary device[]

Lu Xun’s perfect use of imagery, symbolism and metaphor serves as symbolical interpretation of his contempt for Chinese tradition.^[8] The “Diary of madman” was a revolutionary account to reform the traditional belief system and transform into modern structure. The story was not just a depiction of a man who is suffering of mental illness and delusion of being eaten but rather it is a symbol of cannibalistic nature of Chinese customs. The story progress with the appearance of imagery such as an image of a dog which symbolizes cannibalism.^[4] The metaphor of "eating people" for the oppressive feudal society entrenched in the culture of China.^[11] The madman characterized the “awakened” individual who retained his individuality and refused to abide to the cannibalistic nature of society,^[11] and the neighbours whom he believes to eat him represents the society. The story also emphasized how the madman is imprison to his home and trapped in his mind which can be interpreted of China being inescapable to its old traditional ideas.^[12]

Being built and raise by Confucian morality worldviews and principles over long period in history, the subject of democracy, individualism and free thinking are forbidden.  Lu Xun regarded, “(We) Chinese have always been a bit arrogant-unfortunately it is never “individual arrogance” but without exception “collective and patriotic arrogance”.^[13] This was manifested in “Diary of Madman” where the madman states  "Wanting to eat men, at the same time afraid of being eaten themselves, they all eye each other with the deepest suspicion..."^[14] portraying how Chinese individuals were corrupted by the tradition. This article will be seen as a chilling example of "medical science" being used to legitimize and perpetuate oppressive systems instead of curing diseases of the mind and body. As the prologue suggests, the lunatic/revolutionary is "cured" of his "persecution complex" and eventually assimilated back into the cannibalism culture he once denounced.^[15]

References[]

A Madman's Diary. (2021). Retrieved 25 April 2021, from https://www.marxists.org/archive/lu-xun/1918/04/x01.htm

Chen, P. (1999). Modern Chinese: History and sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chen, P. (2007). China. In A. Simpson (Ed.), Language and national identity in Asia (pp. 141–167). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chinnery, J. D. "The Influence of Western Literature on Lǔ Xùn's 'Diary of a Madman'." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 23, no. 2 (1960): 309-22. Accessed April 13, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/609700. Tang, Xiaobing. "Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" and a Chinese Modernism." PMLA107, no. 5 (1992): 1222-234. Accessed April 13, 2021. doi:10.2307/462876.  

Chou, Eva Shan. "Learning to Read Lu Xun, 1918-1923: The Emergence of a Readership." The China Quarterly, no. 172 (2002): 1042-064. Accessed April 13, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4618817. Chinnery, J. D. "The Influence of Western Literature on Lǔ Xùn's 'Diary of a Madman'." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 23, no. 2 (1960): 309-22. Accessed April 13, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/609700.

Norman, J. (1988). Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sun, Lung-Kee. "To Be or Not to Be "Eaten": Lu Xun's Dilemma of Political Engagement." Modern China 12, no. 4 (1986): 459-85. Accessed April 25, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/189258.

Yang, Vincent. "A Stylistic Study of "The Diary of a Madman" and "The Story of Ah Q"." American Journal of Chinese Studies 1, no. 1 (1992): 65-82. Accessed April 14, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44289180.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: A Madman's Diary

Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article: 狂人日記

Notes[]

External links[]

• Full Chinese text of 狂人日記 at Project Gutenberg
• English translation at Marxists.org
• Lesson Plan for Lu Xun's Preface and "Diary of a Madman"