Lu Xun Complete Works/en/xingfu jiating
The Happy Family
幸福的家庭 von/by/par Lu Xun (鲁迅)
[What Happens After Nora Leaves? -- Lecture of December 26, 1923, at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School]
I wish to speak today about 'What happens after Nora leaves?'
Ibsen was a Norwegian writer of the second half of the nineteenth century. His plays often dealt with social questions. 'Nora' (A Doll's House) is about a woman who realizes she is her husband's puppet -- and leaves.
After leaving, there are really only two paths: degradation or return. For a small bird released from a cage finds outside eagles, cats, and the like.
The most painful moment in life is waking without a way forward. Dreaming is happiness; if one sees no path, one should not wake the dreamer.
For Nora, what she needs above all is money -- or to put it more elegantly: economic independence. Freedom cannot be bought with money, but can be sold for money.
Dreams are good; otherwise, money is important.
[On poetry and its enemies -- from Plato to the literary revolution. Summary.]
Plato's hostility to art rejected poetry as imitation of imitation. Aristotle's Poetics liberated literature. The literary revolution brought no real change for poetry; it lies dying. Love poems are frowned upon. But whoever writes for his beloved need not be abashed before old gentlemen. We should not try to make nightingales happy; like flowers, they are reproductive organs.
Patrons of literature are also its enemies. Charles IX said: Poets are like racehorses -- feed them well, but not too fat. Petofi's poem to Mrs. B.Sz. says the same.
Correspondence on translation questions -- Liao Zhongqian's reply and Fuyuan's commentary on Gorky/Wilde translation practice. 'Gorky's surname is not Gao.' Discussion on translating foreign names into Chinese.
Preface to the catalogue of Tao Yuanqing's Western painting exhibition (February 1925). Reply to Mr. Ke: On the selection of recommended books. Commentary: Chinese books contain corpse-optimism; foreign books, even when decadent, show living decadence.
Rebuttal to the preceding text: Chinese books also show living decadence -- commentary on Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Yang Zhu's philosophy. The critic argues that Laozi and Zhuangzi possess an active spirit.
Literary correspondence: On the 'Qinxin' pseudonym (= Ouyang Lan). Magazine Mangyuan. Letters from Xiang Peiliang in Kaifeng about student life. Report on alleged assault of soldiers against female students -- proved false.
Further correspondence: Zhao Yintang from Beijing doubts the Iron Tower incident. Investigation results: The Iron Pagoda was sealed off (Evidence A), female students denied the incident (Evidence B). Yet some continued to believe the rumor.
Concluding reflection: On 'Doing is easy, thinking is hard' (Goethe). Letter from Baibo in Shanghai: On the back-to-nature mentality. Lu Xun's commentary on headmistress Yang Yinyu and her methods against rebellious female students.