A Teenage Poet Praised by Lu Xun

Editor’s Note: Sun Xizhen (1906-1984) was a prominent man of letters in the history of modern Chinese literature. Born in a relatively rich family in a village in Shaoxing, he grew up to be a wizard boy in literature in the 1920s and 1930s. He was an influential poet in the 1930s. Lu Xun, also from Shaoxing, had close ties with the young writer. The two authors have produced a critical biography of Sun Xizhen, a prominent man in the history of Zhejiang’s literature and culture. From this issue on, Cultural Dialogue will publish more excerpts from the critical biography.

On December 29, 1924, Sun Xizhen visited Lu Xun, requesting the writer to contribute to “Literature Weekly” which Sun edited. Lu Xun asked the young man if he was still writing poems. Sun replied that he was not writing as many as before, mainly because he felt the more he wrote the worse he could write, and because he feared other people would accuse him of having ultimate purposes. Lu Xun encouraged the young poet to continue to write, saying “if you feel the more you write the worse you feel about your new poems, this is simply because you have made progress. You need to study ancient poets and foreign poets to push your horizons back. Well, you don’t have to worry about people’s criticism. You keep writing and ignore them.”

Four days later, Lu Xun’s famous essay entitled “The Enemy of Poetry” reached Sun Xizhen through a mutual friend. Lu Xun began the essay with the sentence that he had met the teenage poet just the day before yesterday. It was the first time the nickname “teenage poet” was officially mentioned in Lu Xun’s writing.

Years later, Sun reminisced about the birth of the nickname. One afternoon in the spring of 1924, he was editing the literary page at the office of Morning News. He went to Sun Fuyuan’s office. He stopped abruptly at the door as he saw Lu Xun, Sun Fuyuan, Qian Xuantong and Chen Dabei were in the room. Qian was speaking and gesticulating while the other three listened. Qian was commenting on the appropriate titles for poets. As he spotted the young man standing at the door, Qian waved his arm and said this gentleman could be “a teenage poet”. Lu Xun said of course the name fit Sun and the title was appropriate. Seeing the men in the room had noticed him, Sun stepped into the room and asked Sun Fuyuan for instructions and said hello to others before he hastily retreated.

Days later he ran into a few professors at Beijing University in a teachers lounge. Liu Bannong greeted him jokingly and asked if the teenage poet had brought any new poems to them. Sun Xizhen realized the nickname had already spread wide and far within the literary circles in Beijing.

Sun Xizheng entered Beijing University in 1921 at the age of 16. With the help of Sun Fuyuan, Sun Xizhen was able to moonlight as an editor at the literary page of Morning Post. Sun Fuyuan was the chief editor of the literary page. It was in the first half of 1924 that Sun Xizhen, a philosophy major at Beijing University, began to attend Lu Xun’s creative writing lectures.

In his evening years, Sun Xizhen still remembered vividly what Lu Xun said about creative writing. At that time, Lu Xun had already established his reputation as a master storyteller. His “A Madman’s Diary” in 1918 was China’s first modern story written in Chinese vernacular and helped usher in the New Culture Movement, a momentous part of China’s painful and long transition from a feudal society into a modern society. In Beijing University, Lu Xun was one of the most popular teachers. Sun Xizhen took the lectures most seriously. In the following two semesters from autumn of 1924 to summer 1925 Sun Xizhen attended all the popular lectures by Lu Xun.

In Sun Xizhen’s memory, Lu Xun spoke in an unhurried tone in his lectures. His words painted a vivid and interesting picture. His lectures were always animated, his sharp thought wrapped in humor. Though Lu Xun spoke mandarin with a little accent, students could understand him with ease.

The lasting memory of Lu Xun’s lectures was about creative writing. Students liked Lu Xun’s lectures partly because Lu Xun’s lectures touched upon social issues and partly because Lu Xun gave enlightening answers in the Q&A sessions at the tail part of the lectures. A knowledgeable scholar, Lu Xun had original ideas and was quick to the point through references and analysis, which were very helpful to those like Sun Xizhen who wished to write better.

Lu Xun gave tips about writing. The master’s major secret was deletion. According to Sun Xizhen, Lu Xun said that writing was to convey what you wanted to make across to your readers. All other things could be deleted once your purpose was achieved. On another occasion, Lu Xun made comments on subjects for story writing. Lu Xun revealed a tip: you write what you are able to write; you write what you are willing to write. Then the master elaborated three principles behind the idea: you write about things that you know, you write about things that matter, and you write about things that are real or things that look real enough even if they are fictitious. He then took Nana by French novelist Emile Zola as an example and gave detailed analysis. This extra lecture lasted for about an hour.

Though Lu Xun’s idea about creative writing appeared later in many of his essays and correspondences with friends, Sun Xizhen heard the master’s idea in the whole package directly.