Lu Xuns Autumn Night Symbolic Struggle | Generated by AI
I’ll provide you with a comprehensive English introduction to Lu Xun’s essay “秋夜” (Autumn Night).
Introduction to Lu Xun’s “Autumn Night” (《秋夜》)
“Autumn Night” is the opening piece in Lu Xun’s collection Ye Cao (《野草》, Wild Grass), published in 1927. This collection represents a significant departure from Lu Xun’s earlier realist fiction, venturing into highly symbolic, modernist prose poetry that reflects his deep philosophical anxieties during one of the darkest periods of his life.
Historical and Biographical Context
Written in September 1924, “Autumn Night” emerged during a tumultuous time in both Lu Xun’s personal life and Chinese history. The May Fourth Movement’s initial optimism had faded, replaced by political fragmentation and disillusionment. Lu Xun himself was experiencing profound isolation, having left Beijing University amid academic conflicts, and was grappling with existential questions about the purpose of literature and social reform in an apparently unchanging society.
Literary Style and Structure
The essay exemplifies Lu Xun’s experimental prose poetry style, characterized by:
- Symbolic imagery: Natural objects—the jujube tree, stars, night sky—carry multiple layers of meaning
- Repetition and rhythm: The famous opening line “在我的后园,可以看见墙外有两株树,一株是枣树,还有一株也是枣树” (“In my back garden, I can see two trees beyond the wall. One is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree”) uses deliberate repetition to create both absurdist humor and emphasis
- Fragmented structure: Rather than linear narrative, the piece moves through impressionistic observations
- Personification: Trees, sky, and stars take on human qualities and engage in symbolic struggles
Major Themes and Symbolism
The Jujube Trees: These bare, thorny trees reaching toward the sky represent defiant resistance—lonely fighters standing against a hostile universe. Though stripped of leaves and seemingly defeated, they persist in their silent struggle.
The Night Sky: Often interpreted as representing oppressive social forces or an indifferent universe that seeks to crush individual spirit and hope.
The Small Pink Flowers: Delicate dreams or youthful idealism that bloom briefly before being destroyed by harsh reality.
Light and Darkness: The interplay between the lamp’s small light and the vast darkness suggests the precarious position of enlightenment and consciousness in an overwhelming world of ignorance.
Philosophical Dimensions
“Autumn Night” reflects Lu Xun’s engagement with existential philosophy and his concept of the “intermediate state” (中间物)—the condition of being aware of life’s futility yet choosing to struggle anyway. The essay embodies what scholar Leo Ou-fan Lee calls Lu Xun’s “tragic consciousness”: the recognition that resistance may be futile but remains necessary for maintaining human dignity.
The piece also demonstrates Lu Xun’s complex relationship with hope. Unlike his earlier, more straightforwardly reformist works, “Autumn Night” offers no clear solutions or optimism, yet the very act of writing and observing becomes itself a form of resistance.
Interpretive Challenges
The deliberately obscure and multilayered symbolism has generated diverse interpretations:
- Some read it as political allegory about revolutionary struggle
- Others see it as deeply personal meditation on loneliness and purpose
- Many find it an exploration of the artist’s relationship to society
- The ambiguous gender of the night sky (referred to as both masculine and feminine) adds further complexity
Literary Significance
“Autumn Night” marked a crucial evolution in modern Chinese literature, demonstrating that Chinese prose could achieve the symbolic density and psychological depth associated with Western modernism while remaining distinctly Chinese in sensibility. Its influence on subsequent Chinese writers exploring existential themes and experimental forms has been profound.
The essay’s opening lines have become among the most famous in modern Chinese literature, frequently quoted, parodied, and analyzed for their unique combination of seeming simplicity and profound depth.
Reading Approach
For English-speaking readers approaching “Autumn Night,” it’s helpful to:
- Read slowly, allowing the imagery to accumulate emotionally rather than seeking immediate rational meaning
- Consider the piece as painting or music rather than conventional essay
- Recognize that ambiguity is intentional—Lu Xun resists easy answers
- Understand the historical context of despair and searching that produced this work
This brief, enigmatic piece encapsulates many of the tensions that would define Lu Xun’s later work: between hope and despair, resistance and futility, the individual and society, silence and speech.