Selected Stories of Lu Hsun

 Harga: Rp.200.000 (blum ongkir)

Cerpen berbahasa inggris

Kondisi:Lumayan bagus, HARD COVER

Penulis : Lu Hsun

Penerjemah ke dalam bhs inggris: by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang

Sumber Terjemahan : major stories of the Chinese author Lu Xun.

Cetakan : Cetakan 2, Desember 1963

Tebal : 306 Halaman

Lu Xun adalah nama pena dari Zhou Shuren. Ia dilahirkan di desa Shaoxing, Provinsi Zheijiang pada tanggal 25 September 1881. Keluarganya sangat berpendidikan dan mereka juga menganut paham konfusian totok. Jadi tidak heran jika Lu Xun tumbuh menjadi seorang yang kritis dan pandai. Sejak kecil Lu Xun sudah melihat dan merasakan sendiri berbagai ketimpangan, penderitaan, ketidakadilan serta kesewenang-wenangan terjadi pada dirinya, keluarganya maupun masyarakat disekitarnya.

Pada awalnya Lu Xun memutuskan untuk mempelajari ilmu kedokteran. Ia berharap bisa memperbaiki kondisi kesehatan masyarakat di Tanah Airnya karena pada saat itu banyak rakyat Tiongkok yang meninggal karena wabah penyakit sedangkan tenaga medis yang ada hanya sedikit jumlahnya. Oleh karena itu pada tahun 1904 ia pergi ke Jepang untuk menuntut ilmu di Universitas Sendai. Suatu saat Lu Xun mengalami suatu kejadian yang sangat menggoncang bathinnya dan hal itu yang menjadi alasan utama mengapa ia mengubah haluan hidupnya. Lu Xun meninggalkan pendidikan kedokterannya karena menurutnya yang dibutuhkan Tiongkok bukanlah cara mengobati penyakit fisik (physical illness) akan tetapi pengobat(r) semangat (medicine spiritual).

Lu Xun memilih sastra sebagai sarana untuk mengobati kondisi spiritual rakyat Tiongkok. Dengan penanya Lu Xun berjuang memperbaiki segala penyakit yang menggerogoti Tanah Airnya. Semua tumpukan kelaliman peradaban yang kronis itu membuatnya menjadi pejuang yang sangat diperhitungkan dalam dunia sastra Tiongkok. Lu Xun menancapkan taring-taring kritiknya melalui essai dan tentu saja cerpen-cerpennya. Lu Xun tidak pernah membuat novel dan semua karya-karyanya dalam bentuk cerpen. Melalui semua cerpennya nama Lu Xun menjadi tersohor tidak hanya di Tiongkok tetapi dunia juga mengenalnya dan menganugrahi gelar yang sangat prestisius yaitu Tiongkok’s Greatest Modern Writer for Most of Twentieth Century.

Setelah terlibat dalam aksi protes atas pembunuhan mahasiswa dalam Gerakan Revolusi Kebudayaan, 4 Mei 1919, Lu Xun hidup berpindah-pindah tempat. Ia bersembunyi dari tempat yang satu ke tempat yang lain, dari Amoy ke Canton lalu ke Shanghai. Lu Xun tetap dalam persembunyian hingga tutup usia pada tanggal 19 Oktober 1936 karena terserang virus Tuberculosis (TBC). Selama hidupnya Lu Xun banyak membantu para aktivis muda dalam pelbagai hal, ia juga sangat antusias mengobarkan semangat para sastrawan dan seniman muda. Karena menurut Lu Xun tugas sastrawan adalah berusaha terus membela rakyat Tiongkok (semua manusia dimana saja) yang teraniaya dan tertindas.

Buku ini berisi delapan belas (18) rekam jejak buah pemikiran Lu Xun. Secara keseluruhan isinya tidak jauh dari dari kritik dan kecaman atas jiwa rakyat Tiongkok yang lembek karena pelbagai penyakit juga sindiran satire kepada para intelektual Tiongkok yang menyandang “status revolusioner” yang ternyata adalah manusia-manusia serakah.

·          Cerpen pertama berjudul “Catatan Harian Orang Gila (April 1918)” yang konon kabarnya merupakan karya pertama seorang Lu Xun. Cerpen ini berkisah tentang upaya narator memahami jalan pikiran seorang penderita skizofrenia.

·          Cerpen kedua berjudul “Kung I-Chi (Maret 1919)”, cerita ini dinarasikan oleh seorang remaja pegawai sebuah kedai minuman tentang seorang laki-laki pelanggan kedai minuman yang gagal menjadi pegawai pemerintahan dan akhirnya terpaksa menjadi seorang pencuri untuk menyambung hidupnya.

·          Cerpen ketiga dan keempat berjudul “Obat (April 1919)” dan “Besok (Juni 1920)”. Kedua cerpen ini mempunyai kisah yang hampir sama yaitu tentang usaha keras orang tua (ibu) dengan segala keterbatasannya mencarikan obat untuk anaknya terserang TBC dan Tifus. Dan akhirnya orang tua (ibu) anak itu harus menanggung kesedihan karena tak mampu melawan keperkasaan dewa kematian.

·          Cerpen kelima berjudul “Sebuah Insiden (Juli 1920)”. Cepen ini berkisah tentang keajaiban dari suatu peristiwa yang akhirnya mampu menyadarkan seseorang yang tersesat untuk kembali ke jalan kebaikan.

·          Cerpen keenam berjudul “Badai Dalam Secangkir The ( Oktober 1920)”. Sepertinya kehidupan masyarakat Tiongkok tidak bisa lepas dari peranan kedai minuman, karena di kedai minuman itu semua informasi yang mempengaruhi kehidupan rakyat bisa didapat. Cerpen ini berkisah tentang obrolan di kedai minuman dimasa pergantian kaisar. Pada waktu itu Kaisar yang berkuasa dari Dinasti Ching yang mengharuskan kaum lelaki mencukur rambut bagian depan dan memelihara rambut bagian belakang agar dapat dikepang. Gaya rambut seperti ini disebut Taiping/Toucang. Jadi lewat informasi simpang-siur yang berkembang dari kedai minuman masalah Taiping menjadi hal yang sangat sensitif karena bisa mempengaruhi kestabilan sebuah keluarga. Dan karena Taiping pula orang juga bisa berbuat apa saja tanpa memperdulikan orang lain demi menyelamatkan kehormatan diri sendiri.

·          Cerpen ketujuh berjudul “Kampung Halamanku (Januari 1921)”. Seorang pemuda terpelajar yang memboyong keluarganya ke kota agar bisa hidup layak jauh dari desanya yang tak menjanjikan masa depan yang baik buat keluarganya.

·          Cerpen kedelapan berjudul “Kisah Nyata Ah Q”. Berkisah tentang seseorang laki-laki tak berpendidikan dan miskin bernama Ah Q. Karena kebodohan dan kemiskinannya membuat Ah Q mati sia-sia atas nama revolusi.

·          Cerpen kesembilan berjudul “ Opera Desa (Oktober 1922)”. Berkisah tentang kenangan seorang laki-laki akan masa kecilnya yang membahagiakan. Setelah dewasa ia sangat merindukan kebahagian itu karena jejak-jejak waktu membuatnya tidak bisa melihat sesuatu dengan lebih jernih dan murni.

·          Cerpen kesepuluh berjudul “Persembahan Tahun Baru (Februari 1924)”. Berkisah tentang ketidak berdayaan seorang wanita terhadap budaya yang berkembang dimasyarakat. Wanita seakan sebuah komoditi yang bisa diperjual belikan atau dipertukarkan oleh pihak-pihak yang berkuasa. Dan ketika keterpurukan menimpanya tak seorang pun mau mendengarkan atau perduli dengan keberdaannya. Ia dianggap tak ada.

·          Cerpen kesebelas berjudul “Di Kedai Arak”. Berkisah tentang nostalgia seorang laki-laki bersama seorang teman lamanya di sebuah Kedai Arak.

·          Cerpen keduabelas berjudul “Keluarga Bahagia Berdasarkan Gaya Hsu Chin-Wen (Maret 1924)”. Berkisah tentang imajinasi seorang penulis akan potret sebuah keluarga bahagia yang bergaya modern. Awalnya keluarga khayalan itu terlihat serasi dan harmonis tetapi lama-kalamaan semua terlihat monoton dan menjemukan. Padahal yang terlihat modern atau indah itu belum tentu baik hasilnya dikemudian hari.

·          Cerpen ketiga belas berjudul “Sabun (22 Maret 1924). Sebuah sindiran bagi orang-orang yang mengaku terpelajar padahal perangai dan tingkah laku mereka tidak lebih baik dari binatang.

·          Cerpen keempat belas berjudul “Manusia Dalam Kesunyian (17 Oktober 1925)”. Cerpen ini berkisah tentang dua orang sahabat yang terpaksa harus berpisah karena mempertahankan idealisme masing-masing. Dan sikap keras kepala mereka membuahkan kesunyian yang muram.

·          Cerpen kelima belas berjudul “Menyesali Masa Lalu * Catatan-catatan Chuan-Sheng (21 Oktober 1925)”.  Berkisah tentang laki-laki yang merasa gamang ditengah kebahagiaannya. Jiwanya yang labil membuat laki-laki itu tak bisa berfikir jernih dan tergesa-gesa mengambil keputusan. Dan buah dari semua ketidakpercayaan dirinya itu membuatnya hidup ditelaga kemiskinan kemiskinan, kehilangan harta, tahta bahkan cinta.

·          Cerpen keenam belas berjudul “Bercerai (6 November 1925)”. Aku sebenarnya agak kurang mengerti jalan ceritannya karena dialog antar tokohnya membingungkan. Tetapi secara garis besar sepertinya cerpen ini berkisah tentang proses perceraian yang terjadi di masyarakat Tiongkok. Dan seperti perceraian suami isteri pada umumnya maka pihak isterilah yang menanggung kerugiaan.

·          Cerpen ketujuh belas dan delapan belas berjudul “Terang Bulan” dan “Pedang-pedang Tempaan (Oktober 1926)”. Kedua kisah dalam cerpen ini juga membingungkan dan agak sulit juga membandingkannya. Jadi mungkin ini adalah dongeng rakyat Tiongkok yang dibahasakan kembali oleh Lu Xun.

Sejujurnya aku menyukai kedelapan belas karya Lu Xun ini karena sedikit banyak aku bisa meraba apa yang terjadi di Tiongkok saat Revolusi Kebudayaan tengah bergulir. Aku juga menyukai gaya Lu Xun bercerita yang menggunakan banyak metafor untuk mengungkapkan unek-uneknya. Karya Lu Xun ini sangat jujur, emosional, lembut tetapi menohok tajam.

Sumber artikel: http://q-rienz.blogspot.com/2011/02/lu-xun.html

~* Rienz *~

Selected Stories of Lu Hsun is a collection of English translations of major stories of the Chinese author Lu Xun translated by translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang and first published in 1960.^[1]

Stories included in the collection are drawn from three of Lu Xun's story collections: 《喊》Call to Arms (CTA), 《彷徨》 "Wandering" (W), and 《故事新编》 "Old Tales Retold" (OTR).

The stories were a major influence on the May Fourth Movement in China in the 1920s.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Major themes 2 Story synopses 2.1 Preface to Call to Arms 2.2 A Madman's Diary 2.3 Kong Yiji 2.4 Medicine 2.5 Tomorrow 2.6 An Incident 2.7 Storm in a Teacup 2.8 My Old Home 2.9 The True Story of Ah Q 2.10 Village Opera 2.11 The New Year Sacrifice 2.12 In the Wine Shop 2.13 Happy Family 2.14 Soap 2.15 Divorce 2.16 The Misanthrope 2.17 Regret for the Past 2.18 The Flight to the Moon 2.19 Forging the Swords 3 References

Major themes

One major theme in the stories in this collection is that habits of mind (psychology or "spirit") need to be examined; improvements in material conditions and institutions, while important, are not sufficient by themselves to renew China. See in particular A Madman's Diary and The True Story of Ah Q.

Lu Xun employed point of view in his stories in a way that was novel at the time for Chinese literature, helping readers consider new possibilities about the true nature of the reality around them.^[2]

A second major theme in the stories is the problem of how members of the intellectual class are to live their lives. It is a theme in many stories, including Kong Yiji, My Old Home, In the Wine Shop, Regret for the Past, and others.

A third major theme in the stories is commentary on traditional customs and institutions. The stories look at the specific dysfunctions of particular customs and institutions, and also at the general result in which people are discarded. It is a theme in many stories, especially Kong Yiji and The New Year Sacrifice.

Story synopses

Preface to Call to Arms

((CTA), dated December 3, 1922) In this preface, Lu Xun describes the evolution of his social concerns. An important thread to this preface is his encounters with traditional Chinese medicine and the problems of health care, which bears directly on several stories in the collection. Lu Xun also describes one of his overarching objectives as a writer and social critic: he sees society as "an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation."^[3] Is it possible to help them? Or will he only make them suffer unnecessarily by intervening?

A Madman's Diary

(狂人日记, (CTA), dated April 1918) This story ostensibly reveals the delusions of a man who has passed through a period of madness, and has now returned to sanity and participation in "normal" society.

A theme in the story is the nature of reality, and the difficulty of attaining a perspective from which to see reality clearly. "I begin to realize that during the past thirty-odd years I have been in the dark . . ."^[1]:8

A secondary theme is the self-destructiveness of traditional Chinese society, likening it to cannibalism. "I have only just realized that I have been living all these years in a place where for four thousand years they have been eating human flesh."^[1]:18

The story is said to have drawn inspiration from Nikolai Gogol's story Diary of a Madman.

Moreover, it is believed that the writing of this story closely coincides with Lu Xun's personal transition from a focus on medicine to a focus on psychology and literature.^[4]

Kong Yiji

(孔乙已, (CTA), dated March 1919) This is the story of a local intellectual who falls afoul of his community.

A major theme in this story is the way in which traditional Chinese society's system of advancement for intellectuals left many discarded and useless. "[Kong] had studied the classics but had never passed the official examination. With no way of making a living, he grew poorer and poorer, until he was practically reduced to beggary."^[1]:20

A related theme is the physical cruelty of traditional Chinese "justice." In the story, Kong is given a beating that lasts "nearly all night, until his legs were broken," and afterward he is reduced to crawling from place to place.^[1]:23

Medicine

(药, (CTA), dated April 1919) This story focuses on a sick boy and a traditional Chinese folk medicine practice.

Two major (and inter-related) themes in this story are superstition, and man's search for meaning in a confusing world.

Lu Xun acknowledged the impact of beliefs about traditional Chinese medicine on his own life.^[1]:1[5] In Medicine, the characters are told, "A roll dipped in human blood . . . can cure any consumption!"^[1]:29 though this promise proves false. Scholars have suggested that Lu Xun's family experience with traditional Chinese medicine was crucial in forming his psychology and personality.^[6]

Despite its earthy topic, the story has a carefully wrought structure.^[7]

Tomorrow

(明天, (CTA), dated June 1920) This story also concerns a sick child and traditional Chinese folk medicine.

It raises the question: what if the ability to change the course of events is largely illusory? Do we still go on? "Something which had never happened to her before, and which she had thought never could happen, had happened. . . . She was only a simple woman. What solution could she think of?"^[1]:39-40

An Incident

(一件小事, (CTA), dated July 1920) More a meditation than a story, in An Incident a man's rickshaw puller collides with a pedestrian, and the passenger must confront the question: when do other people begin to matter? When do his own concerns have to adjust to those around him? "The military and political affairs of those years I have forgotten as completely as the classics I read in my childhood. Yet this incident keeps coming back to me, often more vivid than in actual life, teaching me shame, urging me to reform, and giving me fresh courage and hope."^[1]:44

(For comparison, see the book Rickshaw Boy by the Chinese novelist Lao She, published nearly two decades later.)

Storm in a Teacup

(风波, (CTA), dated October 1920) In this story, the "storm" is a change in government (presumably the 1911 Revolution, and the "teacup" is a village in which the residents face a simple, practical concern: will certain people's lack of a queue be noticed (and be punished)? Or are they too far from the action to be noticed?

One theme of the story is the difficulty of meaningful political participation in such a widely dispersed polity as China. Another theme is the life and death impact politics is able to make on people, even down at the village level. "I don't think the emperor will ascend the throne. I passed Mr. Chao's wine shop today, and he was sitting there reading again, with his queue coiled on the top of his head. He wasn't wearing his long gown, either."^[1]:53

My Old Home

(故乡, (CTA), dated January 1921) On a visit to his old hometown, a man finds that a "lamentably thick wall"^[1]:60 . . . "an invisible high wall"^[1]:63 has grown up between himself and his old acquaintances.

Themes in the story include: the persistence of memory, the way people as well as places constitute the sense of a place, the painfulness of disconnection from the past, and the dilemma of intellectuals who must turn their attention away from the past and face present reality.

A theme in the story is the Chinese concept of ancestral home.

The True Story of Ah Q

Main article: The True Story of Ah Q

(阿Q正传, (CTA), dated December 1921) This story is Lu Xun's most famous work, and perhaps the most famous in contemporary Chinese fiction.

The story involves an ordinary village dweller of few means, and describes the habits of mind that he employs in navigating the course of his days. (In particular, he finds pretexts to transform many failures and embarrassments into "victories" by self-consolation.)

A major theme of the story is the question of what constitutes a bigger challenge: material conditions themselves, or the psychological processes that obstruct us from engaging realistically with material conditions.

Village Opera

(社戏, (CTA), dated October 1922) Ostensibly a comparison of the experience of attending Chinese opera performances in the city vs. a village, the story evolves into an essay on how people interact with each other within the village context, including attitudes toward sharing.

The New Year Sacrifice

(祝福, (CTA), dated February 1924) The "New Year Sacrifice" refers to a sacred rite taking place during the sensitive New Year period . . . and indirectly to the old widow who is too broken to be allowed to help prepare it. She has twice been "sacrificed" at the altar of arranged marriage.

The story explores many themes. One theme is the use of taboos, and whether they are consistent with progress. More broadly, the themes of women's rights and marriage practices (including arranged marriage) are explored. "This poor woman, abandoned by people in the dust as a tiresome and worn-out toy, once left her own imprint in the dust, and those who enjoy life must have wondered at her for wishing to prolong her existence; but now at least she has been swept clear by eternity. Whether spirits exist or not I do not know; but in the present world when a meaningless existence ends, so that someone whom others are tired of seeing is no longer seen, it is just as well, both for the individual concerned and for others."^[1]:130

Even more broadly, the story raises the question of what society should do to address the plight of those who are traumatized, severely depressed, or otherwise psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually broken. Finally, Lu Xun considers universal themes, showing how people's "religious" questions ("What happens when you die? Is there a hell?") are relevant, even to non-believers. He suggests that sticking with a "safe" response ("I am not sure") is not enough.

In the Wine Shop

(在酒楼上, (W), dated February 1924) In this story, the narrator meets an old friend who expresses frustration because the need to respect the feelings of others (especially his mother) force him to engage in "futile" exercises, and the need to support himself forces him to teach the outmoded Confucian canon. "Who cares about such futile affairs anyway? One only wants to muddle through them somehow. When I have muddled through New Year I shall go back to teaching the Confucian Classics as before."^[1]:154

The story relates closely to the changing attitudes toward the traditional canon in the course of China's New Culture Movement.

The story deals with the theme of modern Chinese intellectuals confronting day-to-day reality. "In future? I don't know. Just think: Has any single thing turned out as we hoped of all we planned in the past? I'm not sure of anything now, not even of what I will do tomorrow, nor even of the next minute . . . . "^[1]:154

Happy Family

(幸福的家庭, (W), dated March 1924) This story draws humorously on contemporary magazine subjects (the "happy family," the "ideal husband") to reveal, inter alia, what a real happy family looks like . . . dealing with the quotidien: errands, the crying of children, family chatter . . . .

The principal character in the story is writing a magazine article about a "happy family": "The family naturally consists of a husband and wife - the master and mistress - who married for love. Their marriage contract contains over forty terms going into great detail, so that they have extraordinary equality and absolute freedom. Moreover they have both had a higher education and belong to the cultured elite . . . . "^[1]:157

Like "In the Wine Shop," this story deals with the theme of modern Chinese intellectuals confronting day-to-day reality.

Soap

(肥皂, (W), dated March 1924) Lu Xun uses a simple bar of soap to reveal experiential context (e.g. a shopping expedition) and conjugal intimacy (as it mediates the man's relationship with his wife) and social policy (revealing male chauvinism toward a female beggar), and more.

Lu Xun raises the question of who has the real power to deal with and bring about change: the stumbling man or his subtle wife?

Divorce

(离婚, dated November 1925) A young woman holds out hope that her marital dispute will be resolved in her favor.

Lu Xun suggests that "getting a hearing" is like a dream; the reality is that the powers-that-be settle things in the usual manner. "Seventh Master moved his lips, but nobody could hear what he was saying. Only his servant heard, and the force of this order entered his very marrows, for twice he twitched as if overcome by awe. . . . [She] knew that something unexpected and completely unforeseen was about to happen - something which she was powerless to prevent. Only now did she realize the full power of Seventh Master."^[1]:223

The Misanthrope

(孤独者, dated October 1925) The story's protagonist is a "misanthrope" because he rejects the bond of people to each other ("it is hard to live so that no one will mourn for your death"^[1]:187) and because he experiences emotion in situations differently than conventional society expects.

A major theme of the story is the desire to live and think according to one's own convictions, vs. doing society's bidding. Lu Xun raises the question of whether anyone who tries to go his own way will end up as a "wounded wolf."^[1]:196

Regret for the Past

(伤逝, dated October 1925) The "true story" of what really happens when modern romance (a "love match") is pursued.

A major theme of the story is that "honesty" and "truth" (with or without rejection of outmoded traditional marital norms) are not enough to bring about a successful marital relationship.

The Flight to the Moon

(奔月, (OTR), dated December 1926) In this story based on traditional myths and themes, Lu Xun shows that the heroic figure (the intellectual?) and his quest (social crusade?) can sometimes be depressingly mundane.

A theme is the idea that humor and imagination are just as important as high purpose in helping people to persevere.

Forging the Swords

(铸剑, (OTR), dated October 1926) In another story based on traditional myths and themes, Lu Xun weighs the cost of seeking justice (and, by extension, of wielding the sword of truth), and suggests that great sacrifices are most certainly required in this particular pursuit.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selected_Stories_of_Lu_Hsun