Devkota-Luxun Academy: चीनको हाइकुमा ‘लु सुन तथा आधुनिक चिनियाँ साहित्यमा पुनर्जागरण’ विषयक सम्मेलन सम्पन्न ।

नोभेम्बर १५–१६, २०१८ मा मित्रराष्ट्र चीनको हाइनान प्रान्तको राजधानी हाइकुमा ‘लु सुन तथा आधुनिक चिनियाँ साहित्यमा पुनर्जागरण’ विषयमा चीनको लु सुन अनुसन्धान संघ र हाइनान नर्मल युनिभर्सिटीको संयुक्त आयोजनामा दुई दिने अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय सम्मेलन सम्पन्न भएको थियो । अस्ट्रेलिया, जापान, चीन र नेपालका गरी लगभग दुइ सय सहभागी भएको उक्त सम्मेलनमा नेपालबाट देवकोटा–लु सुन प्रज्ञाप्रतिष्ठानका अध्यक्ष तथा नेपाल प्रज्ञाप्रतिष्ठानका आजीवन सदस्य निनु चापागाईंले नेपालको प्रतिनिधित्व गर्नुभएको थियो ।

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सम्मेलनमा निनु चापागाईंले प्रस्तुत गर्नु भएको कार्यपत्रको संक्षिप्त रूप :

Discovery of Lu Xun Abroad:

The Early Perspective of Nepali Intellectuals

Ninu Chapagain[1]

In 1967 "In Memory of Lu Xun", a collection of Nepali language essays was published. This volume teaches us how Nepali intellectuals viewed the great revolutionary writer Lu Xun when his works were just beginning to be translated into Nepali. My full article includes detailed discussions of the contents of that volume. This summary version outlines the key points raised, and their importance in Nepal then and now. In conclusion I point out a few of the ways that the volume remains relevant for assessing Lu Xun's influence beyond China's borders and also beyond literature's border, in the realm of social and cultural revolution.

A 1962 translation of "How to Find Contentment in Poverty" was the first work of Lu Xun's to appear in Nepal. Notably that first translation was into Nepal Bhasa, a minority language with its own long and deep literary traditions. A flood of translations, mainly into the dominant Nepali language, has ensued.

"In Memory of Lu Xun", the 1967 volume under discussion, contains characterizations of Lu Xun and his works by a distinguished group of progressive writers and intellectuals, based on the first five years of translations. The volume published the proceedings of a seminar commemorating Lu Xun's 85th birth anniversary, organized by the Nepal China Friendship Library. It was the first substantive work about Lu Xun to appear in Nepal.

The seminar was attended by the Honorable Ambassador of China to Nepal, Mr. Yang Gongsu, and many prominent Nepali intellectuals, writers, and journalists. The seven presentations included two main lectures, one by the famous poet and life member of the Nepal Academy Siddhicharan Shrestha, and the other by the renowned critic and former Nepal Academy member Govinda Bhatta. The other presenters were the poet Janakprasad Humagain, literary writers Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul and Iswarananda Shresthacharya, the writer and founding Chairman of the Progressive Writers' Association, Shyamprasad, and the translator and writer of children literature Shantadas Manandhar.

Both Shrestha and Bhatta's lectures sought to introduce Lu Xun in a serious manner to the Nepali literary and intellectual world. Poet Humagain described the impact that reading four of Lu Xun's essays had made upon him. The writer Lakaul made a concise biographical presentation, while Shyamprasad's presentation set out the details and history of the translation of Lu Xun's works to date. Shresthacharya's presentation sought to show why Lu Xun must be considered a guiding figure of cultural revolution. Translator Manandhar gave an overview of why and how he came to feel it was important to translate Lu Xun's works.

The volume was published at a time when the impact of China's Great Cultural Revolution was being intensely felt in Nepal as in other countries of the world. Under its influence, more than 150 young students had abruptly broken off their studies to boycott bourgeois education, and gone to the Nepali countryside. Their ambition was to serve the Nepali people. It is easy to see the forceful impact of their action on the contents of this volume. Shresthacharya stated that, "Even those who just read one or two of his articles could become convinced by his writings that he is a leader of cultural revolution" (Shresthacharya 1967: 5). He proposed that the spirit of the revolution against feudal culture so ably captured in Lu Xun's writing, was present in the opposition to capitalist culture going on in the Cultural Revolution and concluded that "Lu Xun survives today, is living today, in the form of a guiding figure in China's cultural revolution." (ibid: p. 6).

Several presenters quoted Mao's view of Lu Xun as the 'supreme commander of cultural revolution' in their articles, and discussed Lu Xun's role as a precursor of the proletarian cultural revolution going on in China at that time. To understand the Cultural Revolution, they concluded, study of Lu Xun's works was essential. In his remarks, Ambassador Yang Gongsu concurred with these views.

All the contributors stressed that Lu Xun was a writer for all countries, and asserted that he was also the Nepali people's writer. Literary critic Govinda Bhatta said,

"the Lu Xun who becomes satirical, who gnashes his teeth and raises his fist when he catches sight of the Chinese people's enemies– that Lu Xun satirizes and hates the enemies of the people all over the world. This is the internationalism of the people's writer.… it is more scientific to take an internationalist perspective than one based on ethnicity, language or nationality. That is, all the oppressed peoples of the world need to cooperate to oppose and expose the oppressors of each and every place. The victory of world peace and international fraternalism depends upon it. Lu Xun understood this very well…. This is another important thing that we must all learn from Lu Xun." (Bhatta 1967: 15–18)..

Poet Siddhicharan said, "we are celebrating the birth anniversary of a friend who has understood the wounds and anguish we have experienced." (Shrestha 1967: 1).

Critic Bhatta placed great importance on Lu Xun's commitment to truth-telling stating that a writer can have no personal interest or individual position of his own; his duty is to the truth. He concluded, "And so our responsibility is great. Our work is difficult. It is only easy to become a writer or a poet so long as one does not understand one's social duty. … I began to really appreciate all these things when I sat and thought about Lu Xun." (Bhatta 1967: 24–25). The editor of the volume, Purnabahadur M.A. praised Lu Xun's bold challenge to the peoples' oppressors of his own time, and his concentration on serving the people, quoting his poem "Laughing at My Own Predicament" :

Eyes askance, I cast a cold glance

at the thousand pointing fingers;

But bowing my head, I gladly agree,

an ox for the children to be.

In what was itself a bold statement at that time in Nepal when progressive positions were heavily censored and suppressed, Lakaul said, "It is time for writers to fearlessly evaluate life honestly and write down the reality of certain things…. We need brave warriors…. Lu Xun was that kind of writer. (Lakaul 1967: 9)

Poet Siddhicharan held that part of Lu Xun's legacy is that he aroused the progressive elements of his time and showed the way for the developing counties of the future. "Lu Xun", he said, "understood very well what sort of struggles people must engage in to make a good and unconstricted world… The destination of our struggles, the many twists and turns along the way, the spots where our feet will slip, where and how we must be sharp— all these things become clear when we read his books." (Shrestha 1967: 4–5). Quoting the chairman of the Afro-Asian Writers Association, whose Beijing meeting he had recently attended, he emphasized that, "The writers of the Afro-Asian countries that are set on the path of nationally oriented development must walk the path that Lu Xun pointed out and walked himself" (Guo Moruo quoted in Shrestha 1967: 5).

I can just only mention some other aspects of Lu Xun's writings and life that these Nepali intellectuals identified as particularly important. They all emphasized the consistency between Lu Xun's ideals and his conduct, and related it to his determinedly pro-people character and class perspective. Secondly, they saw Lu Xun as a doctor of the heart, with a doctor's attention to detail, careful, objective study of the facts, diagnosis of the problems and identification of the road to recovery (Bhatta 1967: 7). They all took the lesson from Lu Xun, that writers must relentlessly critique patriarchial, feudal and other regressive cultural beliefs and practices, and show the way forward to a healthier society. As Bhatta put it, Lu Xun gave up the ambition "to be a knife and scissors doctor, and became instead a pen and ink doctor." (Bhatta 1967: 7–9).

Thirdly, they characterized Lu Xun as an exceptionally clear spoken, well-rounded and thorough-going realist. They all remarked upon his astute and consistent class perspective, and his readiness to critique revolutionary failures and limitations as well as feudal and oppressive practices. In this vein, Lakaul discussed on the lack of peasant and worker participation in the 1911 revolution. (Lakaul 1967: 7). Critic Bhatta pointed out that, "seeing reality is not merely a matter of determining that the thing straight ahead of you is of this colour or that shape. It is also to seek justice and reality with pro-people eyes, assessing this as right, that as wrong, this as suitable, that as unsuitable. Such a point of view will not be "class neutral", it will not be a "supra-natural", objective viewpoint that stands above a social class perspective. This is genuine realism, genuine progressivism. Lux Xun is a writer who advocated and followed this view…. He had the power in his pen to craft satires that formed little nooses that precisely fit the necks of those who forced themselves on the people as their masters." (Bhatta 1967: 6, 23).

They also praised the high-minded subjects he presents and the literary skill with which they are integrated into his works. But in appreciating the aesthetic qualities of his work, they noted the effectiveness of powerful prose to achieve his social and revolutionary aims.

Manandhar recounted how close reading of Lu Xun gave him insight into Nepali cultural practices that, on the surface appear very different than Chinese ones, and also taught him a method for analyzing Nepali literature (Manandhar 1967: 3). He also emphasized that study of Lu Xun's works is absolutely necessary for those seeking to understand the objective condition of China from 1911 until the New Democratic Revolution, the Chinese peoples' psychology, and the ups and downs of Chinese history.

Of course Nepal's anti-feudal and anti-imperialist literary movements have been guided by a number of theorists. But Lu Xun's views still have special relevance in Nepal due to the parallels between the situation in Nepal after the end of monarchy and the situation in China after the end of monarchy in 1911. For this reason Lu Xun is even more popular in Nepal than other great writers.

Here I have given just a broad overview of how these influential progressive writers saw the great literary figure Lu Xun when first exposed to his works. The volume was an initial effort to familiarize Nepali readers with Lu Xun, thus it is more descriptive than critical. And by 1967 only about twenty works— including one story, one novel, and six articles on literature — had been translated. Manandhar worked from English versions; thus his translations inherited any shortcomings in those versions. Nor did he have access Lu Xun's collected works. In this situation of limited access, it is not surprising if the perspectives of the contributors to "In Memory of Lu Xun" were preliminary and not yet matured. Yet despite all these obstacles, the volume succeeded extremely well in providing an introduction to Lu Xun.

Nepali writers have been deeply influenced by Lu Xun ever since that time. It is my personal observation and experience that not only writers, but also leaders and cadres active in Nepal's communist movement from 1960 through the 1990's studied Lu Xun's works seriously, and learned from them. To this day Nepal's progressive writers have continued to study Lu Xun's works, and to take his perspective and ideology as a guiding theory. But if Lu Xun were alive today, he might sharpen his pen to remark upon the declining influence of his works, and his revolutionary practice in Nepal's communist movement today.

Bibliography

Bhatta, Govinda. 1967. A few remarks about Lu Xun. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–27. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Gongsu, Yang. 1967. Introduction. In In Memory of Lu Xun. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Humagain, Janakprasad. 1967. After reading some works by our neighbouring country's great writer Lu Xun. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–6. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Lakaul, Vaikunthaprasad. 1967. Lu Xun. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–15. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

M.A., Purnabahadur, ed. 1967. In In Memory of Lu Xun. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Manandhar, Shantadas. 1967. How I became attracted to Lu Xun. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–8. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Shresthacharya, Iswarananda. 1967. Lu Xun: Leader of Cultural Revolution. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–6. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Shrestha, Siddhicharan. 1967. About Lu Xun. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–6. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

Shyamprasad. 1967. Lu Xun's Works in Nepal. In In Memory of Lu Xun. pp. 1–12. Kathmandu: Nepal China Friendship Society.

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Discovery of Lu Xun Abroad:

The Early Perspective of Nepali Intellectuals

Ninu Chapagain[2]

In 1967 a collection of Nepali language essays was published under the title "In Memory of Lu Xun". In my view this volume provides the greatest insight into how Nepali intellectuals viewed the great litterateur, initiator of modern Chinese literature and world famous author Lu Xun during the years when his works were just beginning to be translated into Nepali.

The first work by Lu Xun to be translated was an essay entitled "How to Find Contentment in Poverty". It was published in Nepal in 1962. It is notable, within the language politics of my country, that this first translation was not into Nepali but into Newari or Nepal Bhasa, a minority language with its own long and deep literary traditions. After the appearance of that single essay, a flood of translations, mainly into Nepali, ensued.

"In Memory of Lu Xun", the volume I will discuss here today, contains analyses and assessments of Lu Xun and his works by a distinguished group of progressive writers and intellectuals, based on the first five years of translations (1962–1967). One finds some mention of Lu Xun in Nepali as early as 1953. However, to the best of my knowledge, prior to the 1967 collection there were only two essays, one published in 1956 in New Step (a quarterly literary magazine), and another published in 1961 in the journal Literature [3] (a bi-monthly literary magazine), that contain any substantial discussion of Lu Xun or his works. The opinion of different writers about him had been included in that very single book. Other mentionable part of the very book is that it is one and only composition on Lu Xun in Nepal till date.

On 25 September, 1966, on the occasion of Lu Xun's 85th birth anniversary, a celebration organized by the Nepal China Friendship Library was held in Kathmandu.[4] The celebration was attended by the Honourable Ambassador of China to Nepal, Mr. Yang Gongsu, along with many well-known intellectuals, writers, and journalists of the Kathmandu Valley as well as some literary personalities and other citizens from outside the Valley. The volume "In Memory of Lu Xun" contains seven presentations made on that occasion. Two lectures were given, one by the famous poet and life member of the Nepal Academy Siddhicharan Shrestha (1912–1992), and the other by the renowned critic and former Nepal Academy member Govinda Bhatta (1949– 2011). In addition five other authors read their articles on Lu Xun aloud to the audience on the occasion: poet Janakprasad Humagain (1937–2007), litterateur Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul (1906–2007), litterateur and founding Chairman of the Progressive Writers' Association, Shyamprasad (1929–2016), litterateur Iswarananda Shresthacharya (1928–2003), and translator and writer of children literature, Shantadas Manandhar (b. 1934). In addition the opening remarks delivered by editor of this collection, Purnabahadur M.A. on the occasion form an introduction to the volume, and a brief introductory article has also been included.

Both Siddhicharan Shrestha and Govinda Bhatta's lectures sought to introduce Lu Xun in a serious manner to the Nepali literary and intellectual world. Their lectures were modestly entitled, "About Lu Xun" and "A Few Remarks about Lu Xun". In the article entitled, "After Reading Some Works by our Neighbouring Country's Great Writer Lu Xun", poet Janakprasad Humagain described the impact that reading four of Lu Xun's essays made upon him. The writer Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul read his concise biographical article simply entitled "Lu Xun" while the people's writer Shyamprasad's article "Lu Xun's works in Nepal" set out the details and history of the translation of Lu Xun's works that had taken place up to that date. Iswarananda Shresthacharya's article, "Lu Xun: Leader of Cultural Revolution", sought to show why Lu Xun must be considered a guiding figure of cultural revolution. In the final article in the volume, "How I Became Attracted to Lu Xun", Shantadas Manandhar gave an overview of why and how he came to feel it was important to translate Lu Xun's works.

It is relevant to note that this volume was published at a time when the Great Cultural Revolution was bringing about great upheaval in the People's Republic of China. Its impact was being felt in Nepal as in other countries of the world. Under its influence more than 150 young students had abruptly broken off their studies to boycott bourgeois education, and gone to the Nepali countryside. Their ambition was to serve the Nepali people. It is easy to see the forceful impact of their action on the contents of this volume. Litterateur Iswarananda Shresthacharya stated that, "Even those who just read one or two of his articles could become convinced by his writings that he is a leader of cultural revolution" (Shresthacharya, 1967: 5). He went on to say, "In China today the Great Cultural Revolution is going on. In Lu Xun's time there was revolution in opposition to feudal culture; today it is in opposition to capitalist culture. It is different, yet it would be difficult to say that the tradition of Lu Xun's revolutionary spirit is not present in the ongoing revolution in China today. And so Lu Xun survives today, is living today, in the form of a guiding figure in China's cultural revolution. I think that those who are participating in the Cultural Revolution today must sense this also." (ibid: p. 6).

It was the view of the writer Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul as well that "His writings gave life to cultural revolution" (Lakaul, 1967: 8). At the end of his article, pointing to the important role that Lu Xun played in the May 1919 Movement, Lakaul extensively quoted Mao's position as stated in "Lu Xun was the Supreme Commander of Cultural Revolution". Similarly, translator and writer Shantadas Manandhar presented Lu Xun as a leader of cultural revolution. He wrote, "It is not illogical to say that the proletarian Cultural Revolution in China today had its beginning with Lu Xun. Thus I feel that it is absolutely necessary to study Lu Xun's works to understand what the Cultural Rrevolution going on in China today really is. Then it will be easy for us to understand our friendly neighbouring country China" (Manandhar, 1967: 7–8). Like Lakaul, both Shantadas Manandhar and litterateur Iswarananda Shrestha quoted Mao's view of Lu Xun as the 'supreme commander of cultural revolution' in their articles. Ambassador Yang Gongsu, who was present as a special guest expressed the view that the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution then taking place in China had drawn a great deal of inspiration from Lu Xun, and that the close study of his creations in China was greatly helping in the development of healthy pro-people literature (Gongsu, 1967: ka–kha).

All the Nepali intellectuals discussed here gave great weight to the principle that Lu Xun was a writer for all countries, not only China. They made the claim that, as such, he was also Nepali and the Nepali people's writer. Literary critic Govinda Bhatta laid out his perspective on this point in some detail and it is worth quoting at length for the light it sheds on Lu Xun's early reception in Nepal:

"Whatever their country or ethnicity, any writer who writes and speaks on the side of the people will be beloved by people all over the world. The downtrodden and cast-off people of the entire world gain inspiration, stamina and encouragement from their works….The Lu Xun who sheds tears for the hardships faced by the Chinese people sheds tears for the suffering people all over the world. He lets out a sigh –the Lu Xun who becomes satirical, who gnashes his teeth and raises his fist when he catches sight of the Chinese people's enemies– that Lu Xun satirizes and hates the enemies of the people all over the world. This is the internationalism of the people's writer. Such writers have no interests apart from the interests of the people; they have no duty greater than to love the outcasts of any and every country and to lend support to their liberation struggles. Thus as dear as Lu Xun is to the outcasts of China, he is just as dear to the outcasts of Japan or Russia or India or Nepal. That is because the oppression-free society that Lu Xun sought to build is not for China alone, it is for Russia, India, Japan and Nepal too. The vision that Lu Xun saw is not for China's future alone, it is for the happiness and prosperity and liberation of all the people of the world…. As far as the issue of the friends and enemies of the people is concerned, it is more scientific to take an internationalist perspective than one based on ethnicity, language or nationality. That is, all the oppressed peoples of the world need to cooperate to oppose and expose the oppressors of each and every place. The victory of world peace and international fraternalism depends upon it. Lu Xun understood this very well. He loved the friends of the people as his own and he hated the enemies of the people as his own as well. This is another important thing that we must all learn from Lu Xun." (Bhatta, 1967: 15–18).

Poet Siddhicharan took this position also. He stated that, "Although Lu Xun is a Chinese writer, due to his great literary ability he has become a writer belonging to all countries. He is not only a refuge for all the downtrodden and cast aside people of the world, he is also like a friend to all those who, like them, are struggling to extricate themselves from harsh conditions. Certainly to be a major writer is to belong to all countries. By celebrating his birth anniversary today, we are not only expressing our friendship toward China, rather I feel that we are also celebrating the birth anniversary of a friend who has understood the wounds and anguish we have experienced." (Shrestha, 1967: 1).

Lu Xun was deeply committed to truth telling. Critic Govinda Bhatta placed great importance on Lu Xun's internalization of the view that a writer can have no personal interest or individual position of his own; his duty is to the truth. Bhatta wrote, "His truth is to represent the great majority, to speak and write on behalf of such fundamental things as the happiness, independence and security of the great majority, and to raise one's pen against any kind of injustice and oppression. His truth does not reside in some afterworld, the [existing] social world is the truth. And so our responsibility is great. Our work is difficult. It is only easy to become a writer or a poet so long as one does not understand one's social duty. … But once one begins to understand that profound duty one must become steadfast in how one speaks and writes, one must remain ever cautious and alert to do nothing in opposition to the people. I began to really appreciate all these things when I sat and thought about Lu Xun." (Bhatta, 1967: 24–25).

The Nepali intellectuals have opened praised Lu Xun's habit of unapologetically sticking to his position in his writing in order to fulfill his duty to publish the truth. In the opinion of poet Siddhicharan, "A person who cannot preserve his honesty and his truth while writing can never be an artist." Lu Xun, he says, was aware of this and "even in the face of the greatest barriers he never wavered from publishing the truth as he saw it. He set pen to paper boldly and unapologetically." (Shrestha, 1967: 3). In agreement with this view, poet Humagain said the following: "He came to have an unusually sharp intellect and he was unshakeable and unapologetic on behalf of his honest point of view and the truth." (Humagain, 1967: 5).

Pointing to Lu Xun's bold, unapologetic character, the editor of the volume, Purnabahadur M.A. had this to say, "Any true writer must, like Lu Xun, boldly challenge the peoples' oppressors of his own time, and concentrate on serving the people, just as Lu Xun has expressed in his poem "Laughing at My Own Predicament" :

Eyes askance, I cast a cold glance

at the thousand pointing fingers;

But bowing my head, I gladly agree,

an ox for the children to be.

He must be devoted to the service of the people, and able boldly to raise his hand against the enemies of the people." (M.A., 1967: kha). Writer Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul also discussed Lu Xun's boldness: "It is time for writers to fearlessly evaluate life honestly and write down the reality of certain things. We have a pressing need for a pure and ultra-modern literature. We need brave warriors." Lakaul went on to say that, in keeping with what he had expressed, "Lu Xun was that kind of writer. He was bold. He was a brave warrior." (Lakaul, 1967: 9)

In the view of poet Siddhicharan, part of Lu Xun's legacy is that, "by arousing the progressive elements of his time, he showed the way for the developing counties of the future" (Shrestha, 1967: 5). Lu Xun's works have given guidance to the people of oppressed nations on the serious subjects of where one wants to get to, what things to pay attention to, on what fronts one must remain vigilant, etc. As Siddhicharan said, "He understood very well what sort of struggles people must engage in to make a good and unconstricted world, and what kinds of blockades will be thrown up to derail such struggles…. The destination of our struggles, the many twists and turns along the way, the spots where our feet will slip, where and how we must be sharp— all these things become clear when we read his books." (Shrestha, 1967: 4)

At that time, in the mid 1960's, the Afro-Asian Writers Association was active. Poet Siddhicharan Shrestha and critic Govinda Bhatta participated in its meeting in Beijing in 1966. Siddhicharan quoted the Association's chairman Guo Moruo speech at the opening ceremony to shed light on Lu Xun's guiding role and importance: "The writers of the Afro-Asian countries that are set on the path of nationally oriented development must walk the path that Lu Xun pointed out and walked himself" (Guo Moruo quoted in Shrestha, 1967: 5).

Of course Nepal's anti-feudal and anti-imperialist literary movement has been guided by the literary theories put forth by a number of critics including Gorki, Brecht, Plekhanov, Lunacharsky, Caudwell, Ralph fox, London, Fast, and Lukacs. But Lu Xun's views still have a special relevance in Nepal due to the parallels between the situation in Nepal after the end of monarchy and the situation in China after the end of monarchy in 1911. For this reason Lu Xun is even more popular in Nepal than other great writers.

Another key factor is the importance that Nepali intellectuals have placed on the consistency between Lu Xun's ideals and his conduct. Pointing to this, critic Bhatta said, "There were no contradictions between Lu Xun the person and Lu Xun the writer." (Bhatta, 1967: 18). There was no gap between Lu Xun's ideals and the behaviour he engaged in to put those ideals into motion. Lu Xun did what he wrote, wrote what he did. For this reason he had a determined and pro-people character. Critic Bhatta gave special emphasis to this subject, as did the writer Vaikunthaprasad Lakaul. In his words, "The brave warrior Lu Xun did not only engage in revolution by the pen alone. He was a tireless, dedicated revolutionary." (Lakaul, 1967: 9). He then described various episodes in Lu Xun's practical life to drive the point home.

In the view of Nepali intellectuals, Lu Xun is a doctor of the heart. Although a writer, he has done the work of an excellent doctor. According to Govinda Bhatta, "He had all the qualities that a good doctor must have. He attended to detail, he studied problems on the basis of facts and in accord with reality, and he would identify the solution and the road to recovery. It was his habit to exert himself to the maximum on behalf of the suffering and ill people with no thought for his own health and welfare. Indeed, service to the people was his profession." (Bhatta, 1967: 7). "It is the greatest responsibility of a good writer to heal those who are ill with sick ideas and unhealthy viewpoints, to render their minds healthy, free from the night blindness that is superstition, free from the fever of rotted, decomposing ideas, free from the bacterial pools that fester in stagnant rotten rituals, by feeding them the elixir of his fresh, dynamic writings. Superstition, feudal mindset, and ignorance are not less terrible and harmful to life than cholera, measles, plague, and tuberculosis. A conscious writer wields his pen as an instrument, and working just like a doctor he operates on all of these, cutting connections, giving injections, applying salves. Lu Xun understood that very well. Thus if we can first of all change the outlook of the people and free it from the disease of frustration and slavishness, health will gradually be restored in all other aspects. Understanding this fundamental thing, Lu Xun gave up his ambition to be a knife and scissors doctor, and became instead a pen and ink doctor. And indeed as a writer he did the work of a fine doctor." (Bhatta, 1967: 7–9).

In the eyes of Nepali intellectuals, Lu Xun was exceptionally clear spoken, a thorough-going realist and well-rounded. Poet Janakprasad Humagain became acquainted with Lu Xun after his short novel "The True Story of Ah Q" was translated into Nepali in 1963. He discussed his feeling about three of the essays in the 1965 volume entitled "Lu Xun's Thoughts on Literature" in Nepali language. These were 'Thoughts on the League of Leftwing Writers', 'Waiting for Genius', and 'Literature of a Revolutionary Period'. Humagain had this to say, "Besides being a revolutionary who is very knowledgable about revolution, as a writer Lu Xun is extremely clear spoken and holds reality dear…. I was impressed with the calm way in which he would openly and in a simple manner express the most uncomfortable things." (Humagain, 1967: 3) In the context of discussing Lu Xun as a realist writer, Lakaul states that "he wrote faultless progressive, realist, powerful articles pointing out the fact that China's 1911 revolution that unseated the Manchu dynasty could not attain full success because the peasants and workers did not take part. [Such writing] saved the spirits of the people and brought them critical awareness." (Lakaul, 1967: 7). Writer Shresthacharya made the point even more directly: "In China socialist realism has been given its direction by Lu Xun". (Shresthacharya, 1967: 5). In relation to the realist Lu Xun, critic Bhatta pointed out that, "seeing reality is not merely a matter of determining that the thing straight ahead of you is of this colour or that shape. It is also to seek justice and reality with pro-people eyes, assessing this as right, that as wrong, this as suitable, that as unsuitable. Such a point of view will not be "class neutral", it will not be a "supra-natural", objective viewpoint that stands above a social class perspective. This is genuine realism, genuine progressivism. Lu Xun is a writer who advocated and followed this view." (Bhatta, 1967: 23).

Regarding Lu Xun's class commitment and his commitment to the people, Bhatta went on to say, "Throughout his life Lu Xun did nothing other than to take on the oppressing class. When there was a place to speak he exposed their hidden, thieving misdeeds, when there was a place to write he wrote in a powerful and appealing way stories and articles that aroused the people. He had the power in his pen to craft satires that formed little nooses that precisely fit the necks of those who forced themselves on the people as their masters." (Bhatta, 1967: 6). On this subject poet Humagain observed that "in each of his works he immersed himself in very deep thought about life for the sake of the workers, peasants, outcasts, proletarian and majority oppressed peoples." (Humagain, 1967: 6). Writer Lakaul remarks that "his meaningful slogans like 'our struggle is harsh', 'press the opposing elements to the wall', 'give no quarter to the oppressors', and 'let no defeated enemy rise again' became great guiding sayings for the people." (Lakaul, 1967: 8). Writer Shresthacharya notes that in The True Story of Ah Q, besides a heart touching portrait of reality, the method of choosing characters is also very sharp. In that one sees Lu Xun representing a class." (Shresthacharya, 1967: 4).

Nepali intellectuals have also had high praise for the high-minded subjects he presents and the beautiful skill with which they are integrated into his works. Poet Siddhicharan says, "His stories are as exemplary from an artistic point of view as they are from the point of view of healthy ideas and healthy subjects." (Siddhicharan, 1967: 4). Lakaul says, "Lu Xun is the champion at writing revolutionary articles that show the worst practices of society and current problems in the most clear poetical (artistic) style." (Lakaul, 1967: 7). Elsewhere he says, "It is clear that active writers encouraged by Lu Xun's creative energy brought energy equal to electricity to the literary and cultural revolution in China. His logical criticism and independent thought brought success. Lu Xun was completely successful in making the new youth aware and vigilant, and in producing awareness of the necessity of revolution in the people due to his wisdom, searching historical research, descriptions that picked out the undesirable elements in society through an analytic approach to his subject matter, his alert experiencing of the fine details of the objective situation, and a heart touching style of writing." (Lakaul, 1967: 8). About his admirable writing style, critic Bhatta had this to say: "It will be clear from 'A Madman's Diary' and 'The True Story of Ah Q', which most of us have read, just how skilled was his pen, just how sharp was his eye, and how much rage and hatred toward the harsh unrestrained overlords was in his mind, and how much affection, empathy and goodwill toward the ordinary ever-abused proletariat was in his heart." (Bhatta, 1967: 6–7).

Translator Shantadas Manandhar explained that the living subjects found in his works and his compelling writing style were factors that inspired him to translate Lu Xun's works. He said, "Whenever I read any work of Lu Xun's, right away I wanted to translate it. His books were truly heart touching because of his outstanding and compelling talent and true to life subject matter." (Manandhar, 1967: 3). He described his amusing experience while translating 'The True Story of Ah Q'. As he translated he began to feel like he was writing the story of his neighbours, and even that of the young people in his own household. He has also widely shared his experience that while he initially found it difficult to really understand the stories of Lu Xun, who had spent his entire life engaged in struggle, once he had read and translated them he found that they taught him a method for studying Nepali literature as well. He also made the important point that study of Lu Xun's works is absolutely necessary for those seeking to understand today's China.[5] In fact not only for understanding the China of the 1960's and 1970's, but also to understand the objective condition of China from 1911 until the New Democratic Revolution, the Chinese peoples' psychology, and the ups and downs of Chinese history, the reading of Lu Xun's works is practically essential.

In this article I have given a broad overview of how the Nepali intellectuals, and particularly the writers whose views were collected in the volume "In Memory of Lu Xun" have viewed the great literary figure Lu Xun. Certainly we cannot forget that this volume has its shortcomings. First of all it was not really written to evaluate Lu Xun and his works. It was the result of an effort to familiarize Nepali readers with Lu Xun in a general way. Thus the volume focuses more on qualitative aspects than on critical perspectives. One finds in it more analyses of influence than deep research about Lu Xun. Secondly, at the time that the volume went to press only about twenty works in total — including one story, one novel, and six intellectual articles on literature — had been translated into Nepali. Shantadas Manandhar can be said to be virtually the only person who was translating Lu Xun, working from English versions of his writings. He has remarked that he became attracted to Lu Xun's works after having the opportunity to read some of his best stories, essays, poems, diary passages, etc., which were published in a few issues of Chinese Literature on the occasion of Lu Xun's 80th birth anniversary. It is likely that the four volumes of "Lu Xu's Collected Works" published between 1956 and 1960 were not easily available in Nepal. Given this situation, it is not odd or unnatural that the perspectives of the contributors to "In Memory of Lu Xun" were preliminary and not yet matured. And yet, despite all these obstacles, the volume succeeded extremely well in providing an introduction to Lu Xun.

Nepali writers have been deeply influenced by Lu Xun ever since that time. It is my personal observation and experience that not only writers, but leaders and cadres active in Nepal's communist movement from 1960 through the 1990's studied Lu Xun's works seriously, and learned from them. To this day Nepal's progressive writers have continued to study Lu Xun's works, and to take his perspective and ideology as a guiding theory.