The True Story of Ah-Q - By Lu Hsun
Here's the greatest (in my humble opinion) short story of the 20th century
Selected Stories of Lu Hsun
Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1960, 1972
For several years now I have been meaning to write the true
story of Ah Q. But while wanting to write I was in some trepidation, too, which
goes to show that I am not one of those who achieve glory by writing; for an
immortal pen has always been required to record the deeds of an immortal man,
the man becoming known to posterity through the writing and the writing known
to posterity through the man—until finally it is not clear who is making whom
known. But in the end, as though possessed by some fiend, I always came back to
the idea of writing the story of Ah Q.
And yet no sooner had I taken up my pen than I became
conscious of tremendous difficulties in writing this far-from-immortal work.
The first was the question of what to call it. Confucius said, "If the
name is not correct, the words will not ring true"; and this axiom should
be most scrupulously observed. There are many types of biographies: official
biographies, autobiographies, unauthorized biographies, legends, supplementary
biographies, family histories, sketches . . . but unfortunately none of these
suited my purpose. "Official biography?" This account will obviously
not be included with those of many eminent people in some authentic history.
"Autobiography?" But I am obviously not Ah Q. If I were to call this
an "unauthorized biography," then where is his "authenticated
biography"? The use of "legend" is impossible, because Ah Q was
no legendary figure.
"Supplementary biography"? But no president has
ever ordered the National Historical Institute to write a "standard
life" of Ah Q. It is true that although there are no "lives of
gamblers" in authentic English history, the famous author Conan Doyle
nevertheless wrote Rodney Stone; but while this is
permissible for a famous author it is not permissible for such as I. Then there
is "family history"; but I do nor know whether I belong to the same
family as Ah Q or not, nor have his children or grandchildren ever entrusted me
with such a task. If I were to use "sketch," it might be objected
that Ah Q has no "complete account." In short, this is really a
"life," but since I write in vulgar vein using the language of
hucksters and pedlars, I dare not presume to give it so high-sounding a title.
So from the stock phrase of the novelists, who are not reckoned among the Three
Cults and Nine Schools
The second difficulty confronting me was that a biography of
this type should start off something like this: "So-and-so, whose other
name was so-and-so, was a native of such-and-such a place"; but I don't
really know what Ah Q's surname was. Once, he seemed to be named Chao, but the
next day there was some confusion about the matter again. This was after Mr.
Chao's son had passed the county examination, and, to the sound of gongs, his
success was announced in the village. Ah Q, who had just drunk two bowls of
yellow wine, began to prance about declaring that this reflected credit on him
too, since he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Chao, and by an exact reckoning
was three generations senior to the successful candidate. At the time several
bystanders even began to stand slightly in awe of Ah Q. But the next day the
bailiff summoned him to Mr. Chao's house. When the old gentleman set eyes on
him his face turned crimson with fury and he roared:
"Ah Q, you miserable wretch! Did you say I belonged to
the same clan as you?"
Ah Q made no reply.
The more he looked at him the angrier Mr. Chao became, and
advancing menacingly a few steps he said, "How dare you talk such
nonsense! How could I have such a relative as you? Is your surname Chao?"
Ah Q made no reply, and was planning a retreat, when Mr.
Chao darted forward and gave him a slap on the face.
"How could you be named Chao!—Do you think you are
worthy of the name Chao?"
Ah Q made no attempt to defend his right to the name Chao,
but rubbing his left cheek went out with the bailiff. Once outside, he had to
listen to another torrent of abuse from the bailiff, and thank him to the tune
of two hundred cash. All who heard this said Ah Q was a great fool to ask for a
beating like that. Even if his surname were Chao—which wasn't likely—he should
have known better than to boast like that when there was a Mr. Chao living in
the village. After this no further mention was made of Ah Q's ancestry, so that
I still don't know what his surname really was.
The third difficulty I encountered in writing this work was
that I don't know how Ah Q's personal name should be written either. During his
lifetime everybody called him Ah Quei, but after his death not a soul mentioned
Ah Quei again; for be was obviously not one of those whose name is
"preserved on bamboo tablets and silk." If there is any
question of preserving his name, this essay must be the first attempt at doing so.
Hence I am confronted with this difficulty at the outset. I have given the
question careful thought: Ah Quei—would that be the "Quei" meaning
cassia or the "Quei" meaning nobility? If his other name had been
Moon Pavilion, or if he had celebrated his birthday in the month of the Moon
Festival, then it would certainly be the "Quei" for cassia. But since he had no
other name—or if he had, no one knew it—and since he never sent out invitations
on his birthday to secure complimentary verses, it would be arbitrary to write
Ah Quei (cassia). Again, if he had had an elder or younger brother called Ah Fu
(prosperity), then he would certainly be called Ah Quei (nobility). But he was
all on his own: thus there is no justification for writing Ah Quei (nobility).
All the other, unusual characters with the sound Quei are even less suitable. I
once put this question to Mr. Chao's son, the successful county candidate, but
even such a learned man as he was baffled by it.
According to him, however, the reason why this name could
not be traced was that Chen Tu-hsiu had brought out the
magazine New Youth, advocating the use of the Western alphabet, so that the
national culture was going to the dogs. As a last resort, I asked someone from
my district to go and look up the legal documents recording Ah Q's case, but
after eight months he sent me a letter saying that there was no name anything
like Ah Quei in those records. Although uncertain whether this was the truth or
whether my friend had simply done nothing, after failing to trace the name this
way I could think of no other means of finding it. Since I am afraid the new
system of phonetics has not yet come into common use, there is nothing for it
but to use the Western alphabet, writing the name according to the English
spelling as Ah Quei and abbreviating it to Ah Q. This approximates to blindly
following the New Youth magazine, and I am thoroughly ashamed of myself; but
since even such a learned man as Mr. Chao's son could not solve my problem,
what else can I do?
My fourth difficulty was with Ah Q's place of origin. If his
surname were Chao, then according to the old custom which still prevails of
classifying people by their districts, one might look up the commentary in The
Hundred Surnames and find "A
native of Tienshui in Kansu
Province
The only thing that consoles me is the fact that the
character "Ah" is absolutely correct. This is definitely not the
result of false analogy, and is well able to stand the test of scholarly
criticism. As for the other problems, it is not for such unlearned people as
myself to solve them, and I can only hope that disciples of Dr. Hu Shih, who
has such "a passion for history and antiquities," may be able in future
to throw new light on them. I am afraid, however, that by that time my True
Story of Ah Q will have long since passed into oblivion.
The foregoing may be considered as an introduction… Read on
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