'Lu Xun and Yu Dafu are both seen as important representative figures of the May Fourth New Literature movement. Why?'' (practice essay)'

I’ve uploaded a scan of a practice essay question I did from a past exam paper for our Modern Chinese Literature course (C17). The question is: ‘Lu Xun and Yu Dafu are both seen as important representative figures of the May Fourth New Literature movement. Why?’

I think the essay is probably longer than I could realistically produce in a real exam, and I think some of the content is pretty questionable! I’ll post feedback from my supervisor when I get it, which should make this actually useful for others.

This is the exam that I’m by far the most worried about this year. I feel like I know a fair amount of material, but often not in quite enough detail for the exam. Also, I’m finding it surprisingly difficult to grasp the pretty abstract debates and distinctions going on surrounding modern Chinese literature.

Anyway, my practice essay (and the feedback I’ll post later) might be useful as a point of comparison for other people taking Modern Chinese Literature courses. Learn from my mistakes!

Lu-Xun-Yu-Dafu-Why-Representative-Practice-Essay.pdf [575k]