A Study On The Genre Of Old Tales Retold From The Perspective Of "Miscellaneous Literature"

Whether it is in the genealogy of Lu Xun’s works or in the field of Lu Xun study,Old Tales Retold can be called a unique existence.In the 100 years since Lu Xun started the writing of his Old Tales Retold with The Broken Mount in 1922,the academic circles have launched fierce debates on issues such as its genre definition,"facetiousness" evaluation and creation methods.In these issues,the discussion and research on the genre of Old Tales Retold has a long history,and it can be regarded as one of the difficulties among the many controversies in Old Tales Retold.Here is the basic paradox in the study of the genre of Old Tales Retold.To some extent.Old Tales Retold is Lu Xun’s "anti-genre" writing that resists the concept and system of”pure literature" of modernity.However,once a refined and specialized genre definition is carried out within the modern academic system,it is inevitable to reintroduce it into a certain "pure literature" genre system.The research path to avoid this paradox is that researchers should first reflect on their own modern knowledge position in the research process,be alert to the theoretical traps of modern knowledge,and no longer take the existing "pure literature" cognition as a matter of course,but to fully problematize and historicalize it,explore the construction process of the "pure literature" system,and truly escape from the "Introduction to Literature".On this basis,from the perspective of contrast between the "pure literature" system and the consciousness of"miscellaneous literature",the genre of Old Tales Retold is re-examined.This thesis attempts to replace the overall study with the stage study,and explores the literary institutional factors,the context of genre consciousness,the characteristics of the text form and the writer’s subject spirit in the three stages of the writing of Old Tales Retold,in order to reactivate the inherent resistance and action in the writing of Lu Xun’s Old Tales Retold and highlight the unique contribution of "miscellaneousness" in Old Tales Retold.The first chapter focuses on The Broken Mount(1922),and examines the original stage of the writing of Old Tales Retold.Putting The Broken Mount back into this stage,we can find that"facetiousness" did not start in The Broken Mount as Lu Xun said.It had sprouted in Intelligence is Sin and the first chapter of The True Story of Ah Q which previously published in the Happy Words column of Morning News Supplement."Facetiousness" is the product of the"miscellaneous literature" experiment that intervenes in the world of short-story with the writing method of random thought.The writing of The Broken Mount was inspired by Lu Xun’s reading experience,academic research and Kuriyagawa Hakuson’s literary theory.The original intention was to restore the true nature of myth as "the origin of fiction",but the "facetiousness"accident made The Broken Mount fall back into the rut of previous short stories and random thoughts.It showed a sense of abruptness in time and space,which aroused Lu Xun’s dissatisfaction.This shows that Lu Xun was still trying to create "pure literature" seriously at this stage,and has not yet realized the unique value of "facetiousness",the form of"miscellaneous literature".The writing of Old Tales Retold at this stage came to an end.The second chapter focuses on Mei Jian Chi and The Flight to the Moon(1926-1927),and examines the restarting stage of the writing of Old Tales Retold.The spirit of revenge of the"black man" in Mei Jian Chi takes Sheviriof as an ideological resource,and inherits The Misanthrope,Revenge and Revenge(Ⅱ).It is not only an attempt by Lu Xun to open up new possibilities for his short stories,but also an opportunity for him to "make a desperate resistance" against his inner sorrow and the entanglement of personnel.During this process,Lu Xun paid attention to learning the lessons of The Broken Mount and tried to suppress"facetiousness" and wrote seriously.The first three sections of Mei Jian Chi thus presented a unique style of lofty and quiet.However,under the interaction of ideological differences and various misunderstandings,the conflict between Gao Changhong and Lu Xun broke out unexpectedly,which made Lu Xun interrupt the writing of Mei Jian Chi and instead write The Flight to the Moon to "play some small jokes with him".In this process,Old Tales Retold changed from"seriousness" to "facetiousness" again.Conflict between Gao Changhong and Lu Xun was only an opportunity for Lu Xun to realize the aesthetic value of "facetiousness".The observation and reflection on the ideological trends such as "walking into the research room"and "moving into the palace of art" are the deep reasons for the change of the style of The Flight to the Moon.The "facetiousness" which mixes ancient and modern allows Lu Xun to take into account both civilized criticism and social criticism,and to break through the gradually rigid"short-story approach" and "Introduction to Literary" to the greatest extent.Since then,Lu Xun’s awareness of "miscellaneous literature" has become self-conscious,and the writing plan of "finish eight old tales retold" has been gradually clarified.The third chapter focuses on Opposing Aggression,Curbing the Flood,Gathering Vetch,Leaving the Pass and Resurrecting the Dead(1934-1935),and examines the completion stage of the writing of Old Tales Retold.With the popularization of "Introduction to Literature"courses in high schools,college preparatory courses,and smaller universities in the 1920s,the"pure literature" characterized by "lyricism" and "three-part method" is increasingly transformed into a certain authoritative and exclusive literary common sense and genre system.In the early 1930s,the distinction between "pure literature" and "miscellaneous literature" was gradually replaced by the line between "literature" and "non-literature".This prompted Lu Xun to reflect on the damage to its practicability and action by excessive "purification" of literature,and his awareness of "miscellaneous literature" matured in the 1930s.In the final stage of his life,Lu Xun’s use of "facetiousness" became more and more bold and direct.On the one hand,behind the contradiction between "seriousness" and "Facetiousness" is Lu Xun’s mentality in his later years,which is entangled with his "anger against the world","game spirit" and "fragile emotion";on the other hand,behind the tension between "purity" and "miscellaneousness" is Lu Xun’s "force of protest" to resist the "pure literature" system and activate the practicality and action of literature through the writing of Old Tales Retold.Old Tales Retold is the "intermediate" in Lu Xun’s literary context.It is not only Lu Xun’s exploration and reconstruction of the historical "story" in his academic research,but also a promotion and transcendency of the moder "short-story" paradigm created by Call to Arms and Wandering.On the one hand,it refuses to enter "the court of pure literary".On the other hand,it assumes the responsibility of "civilization criticism" and "social criticism" by the spirit of miscellaneousness.In the end,Lu Xun,with his vision of "facetiousness",created Old Tales Retold between pure literature and miscellaneous literature,short-story and essay.historical stories and modern short-story,civilization criticism and social criticism,and thus completed the examination of history,the criticism of reality and the transcendence of "pure literature".To sum up,this thesis attempts to re-examine the resistance of the miscellaneous literature writing of Old Tales Retold to the "pure literature" system in a problematize and historical context in order to reactivate and release the complex power contained in Old Tales Retold that has been suppressed by past research in the dynamic examination of "pure" and"miscellaneousness" interaction process.To be honest,on the one hand,discussing from the perspective of "miscellaneous literature" may simplify the complex state of "pure" and"miscellaneous" intertwined with each other;on the other hand,if I cannot further use the methods of Old Tales Retold and "miscellaneous literature" to observe the history and the present,then this series of discussions will eventually fall into the trap of "academicization"and "depoliticization" that Lu Xun has repeatedly been wary of.In fact,there are still a large number of issues that can be re-examined in this "miscellaneous literature" perspective,so this thesis must also be only a link in the "chain of evolution"-it is not so much an end,but rather a review,a prospect and a new beginning.