"A Madman's Diary" (simplified Chinese: 狂人日记; traditional Chinese: 狂人日記; pinyin: Kuángrén Rìjì; Wade–Giles: K'uang-jen Jih-chi) was written in 1918 by Lu Xun, commonly considered one of the greatest writers in 20th-century Chinese literature. This short story is considered to be one of the first and most influential modern works written in vernacular Chinese. "A Madman's Diary" is an attempt by Lu Xun to describe the effects of feudal values upon the Chinese people. He uses an analogy of cannibalism to describe the way such outdated values eat away at the individual. The story would become a cornerstone of the New Culture Movement.
It is the first story in the book Call to Arms, a collection of short stories by Lu Xun. Its title is influenced by Nikolai Gogol's short story "Diary of a Madman".
Yi-tsi Mei Fuerwerker, author of "Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, and Wang Meng," said that the story was often referred to as "China's first modern short story".
Read more about A Madman's Diary: Synopsis
Famous quotes containing the words madman and/or diary:
“Would Alexander, madman as he was, have been so much a madman, had it not been for Homer?”
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“The diary is an art form just as much as the novel or the play. The diary simply requires a greater canvas.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)