Taste and resistance: Lu Xun’s scholarly style and its reception

Abstract

Lu Xun s achievements as a philosopher and writer were confirmed in the twentieth century in China, but little attention has been paid to Lu Xun as a scholar. Admittedly, the revolutionary nature of his A Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Zhongguo xiaoshuo shil?e) has been universally acknowledged in scholarly circles and the book has been quoted in many works. However, Lu Xun s scholarly ideals, his methods, and the distinctive scholarly style that he employed have not received enough attention. Lu Xun s choice of a particular scholarly style, as a philosopher, a writer, and a scholar, is closely interrelated with the development of the scholarship in China. This article is therefore limited to Lu Xun and attempts to expose one side of Chinese scholarship that has been overlooked while analyzing the origins and development of Lu Xun s scholarly style (忦[fe嘜Sshuxue wenti)¹.