루쉰의 ‘곡필(曲筆)’과 ‘유활(油滑)’의 서사 ― 근대소설(novel)의 한계와 파탄

초록

This essay explores Lu Xun’s concepts of modern fiction, that is “novel.” Regarding his artistic accomplishments of “Divorce” in his collection Wandering (1926), Lu Xun was satisfied with a level of reluctance. After publishing this short story, Lu Xun was coincidentally no more creating works of so-called modern fiction genre. I wanted to deliberate on the reasons for his retiring from modern fiction by examining the concepts such as “distortion” (qubi) and “facetiousness” (youhua). Lu Xun talked about “distortion” and “facetiousness” respectively in the prefaces to Call to Arms (1923) and Old Tales Retold (1935). In general, “distortion” is rendered as simile, symbol and metaphor, while “facetiousness” is as disruption of language or parody. In this essay, I interpret the concepts as something more than simple literary techniques, showing Lu Xun’s understanding of the modern fiction genre. First, “distortion” denotes the disruption of the writing principles of modern fiction. Even though Lu Xun writes it was unavoidable choice out of the general’s order, he must have realized the limits of modern fiction genre. For this reason, Lu Xun made an experiment to modern fiction genre with his particular method of “facetiousness” and brought forth a termination to the genre. “Distortion” and “facetiousness” lie neither in the immaturity of the modern nor in Lu Xun’s immaturity in handling the modern fiction genre. This is rather a reflection of the limits of modern fiction with its origin in the West. The realization of the limits of modern fiction and his subsequent efforts for its disruption resulted in a new form of literary prose, miscellaneous essays (zawen). Interpretations of “distortion” and “facetiousness” result in one thing as follows: the miscellaneous essays are perhaps what Lu Xun as a modern being found most appropriate for conveying his own literary characteristics.

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