Selected Stories of Lu Hsun Paperback – Import, 1 December 2000

This version was translated by Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang. Published by Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1960, 1972 and printed in the People’s Republic of China with no information about the publishers of this kindle version.No credit is given for the illustrations that accompany some of the stories in this book (which are quite good – someone deserves credit for them). Unfortunately their reproduction here is not that good, appearing dark and grainy, especially evident when you expand the picture to get a better view of it. And the text that accompanies the illustrations is just not readable (even when expanded). That includes the portrait of the author included at the end of the book.The table of contents is not live (even though it initially looks like it is). Instead it has internet links to information about the stories (which whilst perhaps useful, do not justify messing up the table of contents). There are occasional typos – not that many, but still noticeable.The book is in a dark red font for some reason. Not a bad color, but I would prefer black.Aside from the organizational shortcomings of this edition, the collected stories here are really quite good (for the most part). The first story, “Diary of a Madman”, which is supposed to be one of the author’s better known works, I thought was actually pretty weak and not as good as some of his lesser known stories (so it’s a good thing that they’re all included).There seems to be a consistent theme running through these stories, of things having gone wrong, of some well-intentioned man trying to do things the right way, being attacked by rumors (especially deliberately malicious rumors), superstitions and people’s ignorance.Being consigned to a cold, lonely and hungry misery, despite their basically good (but perhaps too idealistic) character. There is a lack of appreciation for their efforts, for their character, in a society which might outwardly might praise their attributes, but in reality values other characteristics more (power, reputation).There is no way out to a happy ending, fate doesn’t care about their happiness, or even their survival. The characters are victims of chains of behaviour and events that are beyond them to understand, never mind trying to manipulate it to their advantage…something seemingly completely beyond them.

While the stories themselves are worth reading for anyone with an interest in Chinese history, they won't make much sense to anyone with no knowledge of modern Chinese history as the stories all have to be interpreted against the social and political backdrop of the Xinhai Revolution and its aftermath.For this reason, I feel the book should have included an introduction to both Lu Xun and the socio-political circumstances that influenced his writing. Specific analyses for each separate story would also have contributed greatly to making this an excellent book. As it is, the book is merely a collection of stories with almost no information/analyses to put these stories into context.Further, the text is littered with typos. Most frequently, the letters "b" and "h" as well as "r" and "t" get mixed up, leading to instances where the text states "cur off his head" instead of "cut off" and "heating" instead of "beating". I personally found this quite annoying and also unacceptable considering the frequency of these typos.In closing, this edition will only please those who know against which backdrop to interpret the stories. And even for these people, I think there must be a better collection of Lu Xun's stories available that offers more commentary and analysis. Only get this if you will be satisfied with just the stories and nothing more!

I do not know if this is true for all versions, but the kindle version is 3 pages about erectile disfunction, which is NOT what I paid for.