Impromptu Reflections No. 38 “On Conceitedness and Inheritance”

Impromptu Reflections No. 38 "On Conceitedness and Inheritance" by Lu Hsun Translated by Kirk A. Denton This essay,[l] frequently referred to but never to my knowledge translated into English in its entirety, was written on the heels of Lu Xun's first vernacular short story, "Kuangren riji" (The Diary of a Madman; May, 1918). In some sense, the essay blends the messianic message of "Ihe Diary" with the famous critique of the Chinese national character embqdied in Ah Q, the protagonist of Lu Xun' s most famous short story, "Ah Q zhengzhuan" (The Official Biography of Ah Q, 1921). The sardonic tone of "Impromptu Reflections No. 38" is consistent with the stridency and sense of crisis which characterizes these two fictional works. The essay may help us to understand the urgency for social change felt by May Fourth writers and explain the hyperbole of the "cannibal" imagery in "The Diary" and the occasional inelegance of the satire of "Ah Q." If the thoughts expressed in the essay are typical of Lu Xun in this period, they also speak more generally for the early May Fourth iconoclas.ts: totalistic rejection of Chinese tradition; a view of Chinese society as emasculated by a devastating psychological disease. What is uniquely Lu Xun, if somewhat atypically unsubtle , are the satirical style and mocking tone of the essay. Lu Xun's bitter critique of the Chinese character in the list of five types of "national self-aggrandizement" is essentially that reiterated in fictional form in "The Official Biography of Ah Q": the self-delusion of seeking spiritual victories in the face of obvious defeat and a slavish mentality, a willingness to subject oneself to all authority. For Lu Xun, the Chinese are culturally ethnocentric. They pusillanimously draw strength from the mob and revel nostalgically in the glories of the past. Their thought is hopelessly muddled and unscientific. Lu Xun indulges in a particularly caustic assault on the promoters of the "national essence," a conservative group of intellectuals calling for preservation of the cultural past in the face of the May Fourth cry for a "smashing of idols." Typical of the early Lu Xun is the elitist appeal for a Nietzschean "madman" to enlighten the masses to the blindness which is their national arrogance. The Marxist beatification of Lu Xun as a revolutionary cannot disguise the decided scorn for the common masses which appears in this essay, as in "The Diary of a Madman." Random Thoughts No. 38 [2] The Chinese have always been a little conceited. What a pity it is not the "self-aggrandizement of the individual" and only the "self-aggrandizement of mass patriotism." [3] This is why they can89 not extricate themselves and move forward after they fail in cultural competition.[4] The "self-aggrandizement of the individual" is eccentricity, a declaration of war against the common masses. Except ·for those who suffer clinically from delusions of grandeur, most with this sort of self-aggrandizement possess an element of genius or, as Nordau and others claim,[5] of madness. They are bound to feel that their own thought and knowledge is superior to that of the common masses and that they are misunderstood by the masses, so they rail at the vulgarity and mundaneness of the world and gradually become cynics or "enemies of the people."[6] And yet, all new thought must come from them; political, religious, and moral reform originates with them. A _country whose citizens possess more of this "self-aggrandizement of the individual" is certainly blessed with a happy future.[7] "Collective self-aggrandizement" and "patriotic selfaggrandizement " represent the uniting of various groups against heretics, a declaration of war against a minority of geniuses. (They are also a declaration of war against the civilizations of other countries, but to a lesser extent.) These people themselves have no particular talent that they can boast of to others, so they use the country as their shadow, [8] they raise high the country •s customs and institutions and praise them to no end; since their "national essence" is so glorious, [9] naturally they, too, are glorious. There is no need for them to fight back if attacked, for those crouching...