Literary Evolutionism and Its Discontents: Between Zhou Zuoren and Lu Xun

Zhou Zuoren’s “Human Literature” has been read as a predominant essay for establishing the fundamental feature of the May Fourth Movement, namely a claim for literary individualism. A deconstructive reading of the essay, however, indicates that Zhou’s argument is hinged on a paradoxical definition of humanity which inclusively excludes animality. “Human Literature” seems to depend on the discourse of evolutionism, but in fact it cannot do without an enthronement of modern Western literature, which functions as a Derridean supplement. Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman” somewhat forestalls Zhou’s Darwinian individual through a self-stultifying teaching of evolution. But the madman eventually leaves a possibility for a new configuration of the individual that evades evolutionism, which waits to be unfolded.