How to treat Lu Xun's extremes in traditional criticism?

For Lu Xun's extremes in traditional criticism, the modern evaluation of Lu Xun has the following contents:

In recent years, some people at home and abroad have begun to criticize or even deny Lu Xun, which is very different from the situation of deifying Lu Xun before. They tried to subvert the deification and let Lu Xun return to the human nature standard.

There is a view that Lu Xun has no place in China's ideological and cultural history, and that Lu Xun has been attacking, belittling and vilifying China people all his life, breaking the traditional culture and losing national pride and self-confidence in the May 4th Movement.

Objectively speaking, Lu Xun's criticism of tradition may be justified, but the problem is that there is more destruction and less construction; In addition, some people think that since the May 4th Movement, they have pursued radicalism, violently criticized and totally denied the tradition, resulting in splitting the tradition and hurting its vitality. Lu Xun was accused of being a representative of completely denying tradition.

Correctly treat the extremes in Lu Xun's traditional criticism.

1, from the extreme characteristics.

Lu Xun is one of the people who "criticized traditional culture the most profoundly and attacked it the most violently".

For example, in Diary of a Madman, Lu Xun, through the mouth of a madman, highly summarized and compared the history and civilization of China to a "feast of eating people", while traditional China became a "kitchen of a feast of eating people".

2. From the perspective of reverse thinking.

Lu Xun often takes adverse judgments that are different from his usual thinking. Lu Xun was skeptical about tradition and reflected and judged it through the essence of history.

Use this kind of adverse judgment to alert people, break away from the mindset bound by traditional habits and face up to the decadent elements in traditional culture that are not suitable for the development of the times.

As written in "Sikuquanshu" compiled during Qianlong period of Yongzheng.

3. From the context.

In view of the ideological trend of "respecting Confucius and reading classics" after the ebb tide of the May 4th Movement, Lu Xun put forward "paying less attention to credentials", which included Lu Xun's overall understanding of China's books as traditional culture, especially his aversion to insensitive zombie optimism.

When the whole tradition still seriously hinders the progress of China society, we must take a decisive attitude.

For example, "Young People Must Read" 1925, when I once said "I took a fancy to the credentials", I always felt that I should calm down and look at my own position and the basic spiritual direction of talking to others, so I couldn't analyze the time.

4. From the actual content.

What Lu Xun opposes and resolutely criticizes is mainly the feudal and backward things in traditional culture, and it is the authoritarian system and culture.

For example, the dross of ignorance, numbness and superstition of the national spirit, such as "preserving justice and destroying human desires", depends on their position and the basic spiritual orientation of their speeches, and cannot be analyzed without reference to the times.

For example, in the era when Lu Xun lived, on the one hand, "foreign enemies invaded, were beaten to cede territory for compensation, and signed unequal treaties", he was in the international environment of "the law of the jungle" and faced the crisis of "national subjugation and extinction". On the other hand, the feudal traditional ideology and culture still severely imprisoned the national spirit, numbed the soul and dispelled the vitality. Alert everyone, be sure to say it.

5. From the standpoint of resolutely opposing compromise and reconciliation.

This is a strategy. The feudal tradition is so deeply rooted that if we don't take a completely negative attitude towards compromise and reconciliation, we will inevitably be trapped by the social inertia of compromise and reconciliation, and any reform can only be empty talk.

For example, Lu Xun said: "China people's temperament" always likes to reconcile and compromise. For example, if you say that this room is too dark, you must not allow it to open windows here.

But if you advocate tearing down the roof, they will come to a settlement and are willing to open the window. Without more intense opinions, they always refuse or even carry out peaceful reforms. It takes blood to move a table.

6. From the analysis of national culture.

(1) advocates criticizing, inheriting and reforming the tradition.

For example, 1907, Deviation of Culture, puts forward that national culture should be renewed when it meets the world trend: the outside is not behind the world trend, and the inside still loses its inherent blood, so it is necessary to restore the past and establish a new Sect.

He is doing two things:

One is to criticize, attack and destroy, and the other is to sort out, inherit and innovate. For example, as a writer, Lu Xun showed more emotion and spirit in his creation. In order to "expose suffering and attract the attention of treatment", he criticized the tradition very decisively.

In addition, it should be noted that when criticizing, Lu Xun spent a lot of energy to carefully sort out, study and analyze the traditional cultural heritage, and found those elements that are still dynamic, can be used for reference and may realize transformation and development.

For example, sorting out 22 ancient books, records, legends of Tang and Song Dynasties, notes on past events, etc., and collecting a large number of rubbings and rubbings, trying to write the changing history of "China Calligraphy". While attending classes in Peking University, he wrote A Brief History of China's Novels and An Outline of China's Literary History.

Lu Xun's creation also draws rich nutrients from traditional culture, which is in the same strain as Wei and Jin articles. Liu Bannong once sent a pair of couplets, saying "Toni's Theory, Wei and Jin Articles".

③ He "reevaluated" the national culture, that is, reevaluated, judged and critically inherited the tradition from the perspective of cultural transformation.

For example, Lu Xun's attitude towards tradition is analytical, clear in praise and criticism, and unique in vision. He is by no means irresponsible in dumping children and bath water together.

For example, Lu Xun pointed out the common "happy reunion" and "ten scenic diseases" in traditional literature, and thought that their functions were to whitewash the reality and create a concealed and deceptive osawa. However, Lu Xun did not totally deny the traditional literature.

He also discovered and affirmed many excellent elements in ancient literature that are worth inheriting and learning from. A Dream of Red Mansions, for example, is regarded as "daring to describe truthfully and without affectation", which affirms the sober spirit and technique of realism.

In short, we should see that Lu Xun is not only a fierce critic of traditional culture, but also the most insightful interpreter of traditional culture, in which he found something beneficial to new literature and new culture. That is, revaluation. In fact, in Lu Xun's era, people like Chen Duxiu, Qian and Liu Bannong commented, judged and critically inherited traditional culture.