The lost hell after reading it.

Lu Xun's prose poem "Lost Hell" was written in June 1925, first published in No.32 issue of Yusi Weekly on June 22/925, and later included in the collection of prose poems "Weeds". The work describes in a dreamy way that the poet meets a devil next to a terrible hell. However, this devil is not green-faced and fangs, but beautiful, compassionate and full of great brilliance. He is not an ordinary ghost. He is the original ruler of hell who was expelled from hell by human beings. With a sigh of grief and indignation, he told the poet how the ghost lost its "beautiful hell" under his rule. When the devil defeated the gods, he took away the kingdom of heaven, the world and hell. So he went to hell himself, sat in the middle, glowing all over and saw all the ghosts. Later, hell slowly deserted: the sword tree lost its light; The surplus of boiling oil does not surge early; Sometimes when the fire gathers, only some smoke comes out, and Datura flowers come out in the distance. These flowers are very small and light in color. So the ghost woke up in the cold oil and fire, saw the flower of hell from the devil's light, was bewitched, and remembered the world. At the same time, they sent a farewell cry against the prison to the world. "Man will stand up, speak out and fight against the devil." Finally, the devil was expelled from hell, and man gained the rule of hell. When the ghosts cheered for victory, the emissary who ruled the human hell had already started the hell of order, holding all the ghosts with human dignity. When the ghosts resisted again, they were severely suppressed by human beings. So human beings completely dominated the hell and made strict laws. Na Wei is stronger than the devil. So the ghosts fell into a more painful abyss, "groaning and turning around, but can't remember the lost good hell."

The above is the main outline of the story that the poet tells in the name of the devil that the devil and the gods and human beings compete for the rule of hell. So what kind of ideological and cultural connotation does this prose poem, which describes the situation of hell with strange imagination, contain? What are the metaphors of "hell", "God", "devil" and "human" in the works? Let's sort out the views and opinions put forward by previous researchers.

Look at the mainstream view first. In the past, most researchers thought that "hell" refers to Beijing under the rule of Beiyang warlords; "God" refers to the ruler of the Qing Dynasty; "Devil" refers to the ruler of the northern warlords; "Man" refers to the new warlord of the Kuomintang. The main purpose of the work is to expose the dark rule of Beiyang warlords fighting for power and profit, and to predict the fall of the Kuomintang after it came to power. For example, Yao Yao thinks: "The author thinks that he is the liberator of ghosts from now on, but there was a genius premonition on the faces of some unsuccessful Kuomintang' heroes' at that time, and these people could not undertake the mission of breaking hell and liberating ghosts." {1} Li thinks: "At that time, the period when the author lived under the rule of the Northern Warlords was really a hell on earth. Some gentlemen, scholars, upright people and gentlemen are defending it, opposing reform and being dissatisfied with the status quo. Is it a good hell? However, for the Kuomintang Rightists who had begun to compete with the northern warlords for the right to rule this hell at that time, the author also foresaw that their rule would not be better than that of the warlords in the future. This premonition is amazing! " {2} Sun also believes that Lu Xun "has long felt trapped in a lazy hell for the warlord rule that has been rampant for a while since People's Republic of China (PRC). Seeing the faces and tone of these "frustrated heroes" of Kuomintang politicians, he also predicted that he would sink into a new dark hell. Lu Xun is worthy of being a great thinker. His amazing foresight has become a living reality after the Kuomintang reactionaries replaced the rule of Beiyang warlords in China. " {3} With this understanding and thinking, some researchers admire and praise Lu Xun's foresight on the one hand, and criticize Lu Xun for being pessimistic about the future of the revolution on the other. For example, Feng Xuefeng said, "The hell or lazy hell mentioned here refers to Beijing under the rule of imperialism and northern warlords at that time, and can also refer to semi-colonial and semi-feudal China." Eloquent and commendable, but the hero who was not successful at that time obviously refers to the people in the Kuomintang who had not yet gained political power at that time. ..... At that time, the author had a premonition that if those' heroes' like the Kuomintang came to power, the oppressed people would be more severely oppressed and China would be even darker. Later, it was proved that the darkness of Kuomintang reactionaries' rule exceeded that of Beiyang warlords. This is the practical significance of this work. But on the other hand, it also reveals the author's pessimistic view on the future of the revolution at that time. Because those eloquent and difficult "heroes" are the oppressors of the people, their "success" is only the continuation and strengthening of semi-colonial and semi-feudal dark rule; In other words, they are not the destroyers of "hell" and the liberators of "ghosts" in the first place, so it is unrealistic to take them to represent "people" who are opposed to "demons". What really destroyed' hell' at that time was the people themselves who were engaged in revolutionary struggle under the leadership of the * * * Production Party. "{4} This kind of research has a strong imprint of the times and political color. It is characterized by first "elevating" Lu Xun as a revolutionary, praising his revolutionary insight and foresight, and then measuring and demanding Lu Xun with revolutionary political standards, criticizing his pessimism or negation of the revolutionary future.

Let's look at some views or opinions that are different from the mainstream after 90. Li Tianming, a Canadian Chinese scholar, pointed out that "God", "Ghost" and "Man" refer to the feudal dynasty established by the Han people, the Qing dynasty established by the Manchu people and the * * * and political system after the Revolution of 1911. He said: "When the sky is full of honey" can refer to the distant past; In my opinion, the description of "the devil defeated the gods and mastered the power that dominated everything" is the end of the Ming Dynasty and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. ..... The image of the devil can ironically refer to the rule of the Qing Dynasty. ..... The ghosts finally rose up and overthrew the rule of the devil with the support of human beings. Unlike some commentators who interpret human beings as the Kuomintang, I think it refers to the revolutionary party headed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. {5} Hu Yinqiang interprets it from the perspective of marriage and love, and thinks: "The devil symbolizes the feudal marriage culture and personifies the feudal marriage model; Hell' symbolizes the feudal family and social life created by feudal marriage culture. " "God" is "perhaps suggesting that in ancient times, people's marriage system was more natural and in line with human nature. "And" the ghost gave a cry of resistance. This is a metaphor for the awakening of ghost consciousness suppressed by feudal marriage system. Humans jumped up and bravely stood up to fight against the devil, which is the Enlightenment ... Hell on earth means that after the Enlightenment, humans created new marriage norms, new marriage order and new marriage ethics ... In Tidying up Hell, extramarital affairs (no matter what difficulties) will still be morally blamed. ..... The poet is in love now, but he has lost a good hell-the feudal marriage life without love, that is, the ice valley, that is, the empty night. " {6}

Above, we have combed the main viewpoints of the previous studies on Lost Hell, and we can find that both traditional researchers who interpret it from a political perspective and recent researchers who interpret it from the perspective of personal love and marriage feelings are stiff or far-fetched because they sit too hard on the symbolic object of the work. For example, most mainstream researchers regard Lu Xun as a great prophet and think that the "human messenger" who rules hell instead of the "devil" refers to Chiang Kai-shek and other new warlords of the Kuomintang. This is far-fetched and questioned by some scholars. "Lu Xun foresaw the darkness of the Kuomintang regime in 1925. Does this overestimate Lu Xun's foresight and regard him as a fortune teller? " {7} Some scholars retort: "1On March 6, 934, Mr. Lu Xun wrote to Yao Ke:' Last month, books were banned here 149 kinds, including my anthology. I chose all the works from ten years ago, when those in power had not yet gained political power, and some works were really amazing about the' reaction' now. "There are 22 novels, essays and prose poems in Selected Works, and Lost Hell is one of them. Mr. Lu Xun denied that The Selected Works was "reactionary" to the "current authorities", which also denied that The Lost Hell was a foresight of Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary coup. " {8} And Li Tianming's "God", "Ghost" and "Man" respectively refer to before the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China were equally far-fetched. It is particularly debatable to interpret the "human" who helped ghosts and gods resist prisons and eventually replaced the "devil" and ruled hell more harshly as "revolutionaries headed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen". The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the feudal monarchy and established a democratic and harmonious system, which was a significant and substantial progress in the democratization of China's social system. Although the fruits of the victory of the Revolution of 1911 were stolen by Yuan Shikai, a former powerful minister of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai ruled at least superficially in accordance with the system of * * * stipulated in the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. It can be said that the * * * and system at that time was his insurmountable bottom line, and the restoration of monarchy beyond this bottom line was immediately denounced by the whole country, causing great disaster. Since then, various factions of the Northern Warlords have been fighting for the throne of the President or the Prime Minister, fighting each other and not giving in to each other. In less than 13 years, 14 president was changed, but no one dared to take down the signboard of "Republic of China". Of course, it is a notorious scandal that Cao Kun bribed the president, but from this incident, we can see the restraint of * * * and the system. Under the feudal monarchy system, I'm afraid there is no "bribe", only "tribute". It can be seen that the democratic and harmonious system created by revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, it is hard to accept that the "messenger of mankind" who ruled "hell" more harshly and despotically than the "devil" written by Lu Xun is a revolutionary like Sun Yat-sen who founded the Republic of China. As for Hu Yinqiang's "God" refers to the natural marriage of ancient human beings, "Magic" is the personification of feudal marriage, and the ghost rebellion has been responded by "man", which refers to enlightenment, and man's bringing order out of chaos refers to the formulation of new marriage norms and moral standards by human beings. This view is also far-fetched and debatable. According to this logic, did Lu Xun, the pioneer of the Enlightenment, deny the norms of enlightenment and social civilization and yearn for the rules of animal jungle? And it's hard to understand that the poet is in love now, but he has lost a good hell. The author believes that Lu Xun's creation of Lost Hell is out of criticism of reality and reflection on history. The so-called criticism of reality is the criticism of the warlord rule of Beiyang warlords who have been fighting for power and profit for years and the people are in poverty. Lu Xun said in the preface to the English version of Weeds: "It can also be said that most of them are miserable white flowers on the edge of lazy hell, which is certainly not beautiful. But this hell must also be lost. This was told to me by the faces and tone of some difficult heroes who had not yet achieved great success. So I wrote Lost Hell. " {9} Why did Lu Xun call his works "miserable glistening on the edge of lazy hell"? We know that after the Revolution of 1911, the revolutionaries led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen formulated the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China and established bourgeois parliamentary democracy. However, the state power soon fell into the hands of Yuan Shikai and other northern warlords. 19 12 In March, Yuan Shikai became the interim president of the Republic of China in Beijing, threatening the Nanjing interim government to move to Beijing. From then on, the period of Beiyang government in the history of the Republic of China began, and/kloc-0 was replaced by the national government after the Northern Expedition in 928. In this short period of 16 years, there were 15 presidents. Yuan Shikai was in power for the longest time only for more than four years, while Zhou Ziqi, who was in power for the shortest time, was only the president of the State Council for nine days. Frequent regime changes have made warlords pay attention to expanding their own strength and territory in order to obtain the presidency, but have no time to take care of establishing strict ruling order. Especially during Yuan Shikai's first interim president, under the administrative framework of the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, the form of bourgeois democracy was retained. The members of the League in Congress were the majority, and the political power of most southern provinces was also in the hands of the League. Form the opposition between the bourgeois revolutionaries and the Beiyang faction. A rare bourgeois democratic atmosphere has emerged. At that time, there were many political parties and free public opinion, and hundreds of political parties and organizations, hundreds of newspapers and periodicals appeared. Lu Xun called the prose poems he wrote at this time "miserable white flowers on the edge of lazy hell", which meant that the northern warlords were busy fighting for power and profit, and relaxed their ideological constraints, so that they could express their thoughts and feelings more freely. The "laziness" here mainly refers to the weakening of literary prohibition and the relaxation of thoughts. On the other hand, the northern warlords are basically in a state of war. During Yuan Shikai's reign, Yuan Shikai constantly used force to pacify the revolutionary forces in the south, and the revolutionaries constantly launched the war of "defending the country and defending the country" to win Yuan. After Yuan Shikai's sudden death, Beiyang faction split into three major warlord camps: lineal, Anhui and Feng. After the war to protect the country, warlords began to form all over the country. Under the fierce competition of various forces, Anhui, Direct and Feng successively controlled the Beijing regime. Various warlords have been fighting for years, and the people have suffered from war and their lives are in dire straits. So Lu Xun compared the society at that time to "hell" and thought that "this hell must be lost". From the perspective of realistic criticism, Lu Xun's Lost Hell is a criticism of the dark reality of the dark rule of Beiyang warlords and the frequent wars waged by various warlords for sovereignty. The "hell" in the works symbolizes Beijing under the rule of the Northern Warlords or the whole dark China at that time. However, "God", "Magic" and "Man" can be said to refer to warlords of various factions during the rule of Beiyang Warlords, but not necessarily to the rulers of Qing Dynasty, Beiyang Warlords and the new warlords of Kuomintang. Or the feudal dynasty established by the Han people, the Qing dynasty established by the Manchu people and the * * * and political system after the Revolution of 1911; Or the natural marriage of ancient human beings, the personification and enlightenment of feudal marriage. So it is a bit self-contained and difficult to justify. The struggles between "devil" and "god" and between "human" and "devil" described in the works are all for the rule of "hell", which is actually a symbol of warlords of various factions.

One month before Lu Xun wrote The Lost Good Hell, he wrote an article Miscellaneous Words, which was published in the first issue of Mangyuan Weekly on April 24, 1925. In the article, he said: "The battle between God and the devil is not for heaven, but for the master of hell. So no matter who wins, hell is still that hell. " {10} The "gods" and "demons" mentioned by Lu Xun here are obviously warlords. The "God" and "Devil" in Lost Hell can be viewed in this way. As for the "human beings" in "Rectifying Hell" written in prose poems, they fought against the "devil" under the banner of "speaking bravely", but after being ruled by "hell", they were more harsh and cruel than the rule of "gods" and "devil". We can understand that warlords waved all kinds of beautiful flags and shouted beautiful slogans before they came to power, but they showed their true colors after they came to power. For example, after Yuan Shikai's death, Anhui warlords came to power, and Duan, as prime minister, held the real power of the Beijing government. Due to the increasing conflict between warlords for power, in the spring of 19 17, the "battle of the imperial court" became fierce. Li dissolved parliament and relieved Duan of his presidency. Duan immediately incited the provincial governors to become independent and prepared to form another government in Tianjin. Li invited Zhang Xun to lead the braid army to "mediate" in the north, but Zhang Xun staged a farce of restoring Puyi 12 days. Duan defeated Zhang Xun and regained control of the central government under the banner of "rebuilding * * * and". He abolished the "Provisional Treaty Law" and signed the "Sino-Japanese Military Agreement" in the name of participating in foreign wars, borrowing money to train the participating troops and expand their strength. Sun Yat-sen went south to Guangzhou and launched a movement to protect the law. Southwest warlords Tang and Lu Rongting took the opportunity to expand their power, and Duan attempted to unify the whole country by force and sent troops to crusade. Under the banner of "armistice" and "patriotism", the direct warlords joined forces with the Feng warlords and defeated the Anhui warlords, thus gaining the sovereignty of the Beijing government. After the direct line came to power under the banner of opposing the reunification of Anhui Province by force, it immediately implemented the policy of reunification by force in the name of the central government. Therefore, under the banner of "democracy", "autonomy" and "joint provincial autonomy", the warlord Feng Zhi joined forces with various forces to fight against it. Through two large-scale wars, he overthrew the rule of the direct warlord and took control of the Beijing regime. Therefore, "Man", also known as "God" and "Devil" in prose poems, is also a warlord fighting for power and profit. Although after Yuan Shikai's death, the Beijing School was run by three warlords, namely Anhui School, Direct School and Direct School. In his prose poems, Lu Xun used the three symbols of "God", "Magic" and "Man" to refer to the warlords' scuffle, but there was no need to sit in the right place. Lu Xun's original intention is to explain that these warlords are essentially birds of a feather, and no one who comes to power can change slavery.

All the above works are analyzed and interpreted from the perspective of realistic criticism. Let's analyze the ideological and cultural connotation of prose poetry from the perspective of historical reflection. As the most thorough enlightenment thinker who opposed feudal moral culture, Lu Xun regarded the whole history of China as a slave age from the perspective of the autocratic hierarchy before China and the essence of slave moral culture. The only difference is "being a slave for a while" and "wanting to be a slave but not doing it". Lu Xun expounded this idea in his essay "Essays under the Light" written more than a month before "Lost Hell". He believes that China people under the rule of slave morality and autocratic violence "have never won the price of' people', but they are slaves at most ... but it is not uncommon when they are inferior to slaves. The people of China are neutral. They don't even know which side they belong to in the war, but they belong to either side. When the robbers come, they belong to the government. Of course, they have to kill and rob. Now that the officers and men have arrived, they should belong to their families, but they will still be killed and robbed, as if they belonged to robbers again. At this time, the people want to have a master and treat them as people-dare not, but treat them as cattle and horses, preferring to find grass for themselves, just asking him to decide how they run. If someone can really decide what slave rules to make for them, it will naturally be "the mercy of the emperor." "It's a pity that no one can decide for a while. For example, in the Sixteen Countries of Wuhu, Huang Chao, the Five Dynasties, the end of the Song Dynasty and the end of the Yuan Dynasty, except for the old routine of serving and collecting food, they all suffered unexpected disasters. ..... At this time, people want to come to another master who cares more about their slave rules. Whether it is static or newly released, there is a rule that enables them to follow the track. ..... in fact, it is probably a group of thieves. After the chaos reached the extreme, a powerful, intelligent, cunning or foreign figure came out to tidy up the world in an orderly way. Set rules: how to serve, how to receive food, how to kowtow, how to praise saints. And this rule is not as fickle as it is now. So' happy'; In the idiom, it is called' the world is at peace'. ..... In those days, I don't know. However, we can see their dissatisfaction with the status quo from the fact that China literati admire the quintessence of Chinese culture, writers admire the inherent civilization and Taoism is keen on retro. ..... In short, the retro, the asylum seekers, the ignorant, the ignorant and the unworthy seem to have been fascinated by the peaceful and prosperous times three hundred years ago, that is, the era of temporary slavery. " {1 1} The so-called "one rule and one chaos" of this kind of "pre-Confucianism" was regarded by Lu Xun as a cycle of two slave times: "One moment you are a slave, the other you want to be a slave, and the other you don't want to be a slave". It is worth noting that Lu Xun is by no means advocating the theory of historical cycle stagnation here. On the contrary, Lu Xun, with a strong sense of responsibility and mission as an enlightenment pioneer, exposed the essence of China's autocratic system and slave moral culture for thousands of years, and let people know that this autocratic system and slave morality are the deepest cultural foundation that hinders the social development of China. This is the most enlightening thought and understanding of Lu Xun in his reflection on history. On the basis of this understanding, Lu Xun regarded the change of dynasty in history as a change of medicine, because the autocratic system and cultural foundation that enslaved the people could not be changed. It's just different names or flags such as "God", "Magic" and "Man". Lu Xun thought that there were only bandits and slaves in China's history, and there was no ideal innovation and destruction. He said: "We want the destroyer of innovation, because he has the light of ideal in his heart. Know the difference between him and bandits: pay attention to the latter two. This difference is not troublesome. As long as you look at others to save yourself, no matter how you say or think, those who take advantage are thieves and those who take advantage are slaves, no matter how bright and beautiful the flag in front is. " {12} Therefore, Lu Xun always referred to the loyalist as "sitting bandits", Huang Chao, Li Zicheng, Zhang and other peasant rebels as "bandits", "bandits" or "internal bandits", and foreign invaders as "foreign bandits". That is to say, in Lu Xun's view, there is no essential difference between these people, and they are all the chief culprits who slaughtered and enslaved the people for power and interests. It's just that the winner is king and the loser is the enemy. He said: "The monarch and the people are the same nation. In troubled times,' be king, be defeated as a thief'. Usually one is an emperor, and many are civilians as usual; There is not much difference between the two. " {13} Lu Xun dug deep into the root of feudal autocracy from the essence of slave moral culture. He said: "The revolution of the ruling class so far is just a struggle of old chairs. When I pushed it, the chair seemed hateful. Once I got it, I felt it was a treasure and realized that I was angry with this' old'. Twenty years ago, some people said that Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming Taizu) was a national revolutionary, but he was not. After he proclaimed himself emperor, he called the Mongolian dynasty "Dayuan" and killed the Han people and the ancestors of Bimeng. When a slave becomes a master, he will never give up the title of' master'. I'm afraid his posturing is even more complete and ridiculous than his master's. It's like the workers in Shanghai earned a few pence and opened a small factory, but they were extremely fierce to the workers. " {14} This is an incisive conclusion drawn by Lu Xun's reflection on history. The prose poem "Lost Hell" expresses Lu Xun's understanding and thinking about the essence of historical regime change in the form of literary visualization. When talking about the turmoil and changes in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties from the perspective of historical reflection, he said: "When comparing the events of the Five Dynasties, the Southern Song Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty with the current situation, it is thrilling to see how similar they are, as if the passage of time has nothing to do with us in China. At present, the Republic of China is still in the Five Dynasties, that is, the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. ..... Corruption and rags in the late Ming Dynasty have not reached the peak, because Li Zicheng and Zhang started to make trouble. And Li. Z's cruelty and cruelty have not reached the extreme, because the Manchurian soldiers have come in. " {15} Here, Lu Xun combined melee with reflection on the whole history. Although Lu Xun thinks that the rulers of the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng, Zhang and Manchu, suppressed the people more cruelly than each other, we don't have to put them together with the "gods", "demons" and "people" in prose poems. It should be understood as an intuitive expression of the poet's criticism of reality and reflection on history from a macro perspective. Because in the past, under the rule of feudal autocracy and the norms of slave moral culture, no matter what dynasty people lived a hellish slave life, no matter who sat on the throne of the emperor, they made the original "lazy hell", that is, the state machine that strengthened the rule, boil like oil; A shovel like a knife; As hot as fire. "And" ghost moan, turn around. "That is, the people will be in dire straits." This is the success of mankind and the misfortune of ghosts ... "In other words, every regime change is the success of the new ruler, but it is the misfortune of the people. Every ruler will lament that he has "lost a good hell" after his failure.

Above, we interpret and analyze Lost Hell from the perspective of realistic criticism and historical reflection. Of course, as a successful literary work, the image is far greater than the thought, and the inspiration and association brought by the lost hell are very rich. If we understand it from a more general and abstract philosophical level, the "when heaven and earth are all honey-colored" under the rule of "God" in the works reminds people of the "Garden of Eden" where human beings had no self-awareness and desire at first. Using his "glory" to awaken the "ghosts and gods" and defeat the "demons" of the gods is like Satan tempting mankind to steal the forbidden fruit, which reminds people of the enlightener who encouraged "people" to awaken; The strict system of "human" rule can remind people of the alienation of human nature itself in the era of scientific and rational industrialization and so on. But the most direct and obvious implication of the work is undoubtedly the criticism of reality and the reflection on history. That is, criticizing the warlord melee at that time, and pointing out that the essence of regime change in China's history is the cycle of two "slave times", and the autocratic system and slave morality are the deep cultural foundation that nourishes this "slave times".