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A review by bibliosini
A Madman's Diary 狂人日記 by Lu Xun, 魯迅
3.0
I read the free translated version available on Marxists.org for my edX course on World Literature. I had almost zero background knowledge of the author or the context of this short story going into it, but I could pretty easily decipher what the main premise of the story was.
The narrator plans to meet with two brothers who were friends of his since one brother was recently ill. Upon meeting, he only gets to see the Elder Brother since the Younger Brother is better now and is away working. However, the Elder Brother hands the narrator his brother's diary from during his days of illness to give him some insight as to what had happened.
It was quite clear to me that the Younger Brother had suffered from schizophrenia probably and his diary was an account of his delusions and hallucinations. It was interesting to observe the way that then-China viewed and treated mental health issues. The writing was simple and fast-paced, but interesting.
The narrator plans to meet with two brothers who were friends of his since one brother was recently ill. Upon meeting, he only gets to see the Elder Brother since the Younger Brother is better now and is away working. However, the Elder Brother hands the narrator his brother's diary from during his days of illness to give him some insight as to what had happened.
It was quite clear to me that the Younger Brother had suffered from schizophrenia probably and his diary was an account of his delusions and hallucinations. It was interesting to observe the way that then-China viewed and treated mental health issues. The writing was simple and fast-paced, but interesting.