1902년 루쉰은 일본유학생으로 파견되어 국내에서 학습한 자연과학 지식을 바탕으로 의학 전문대학에 진학해 의학도의 길을 걸었다. 그러던 어느날, 청국 유학생에 대한 멸시와 이른바 ‘환등기 사건’으로 돌연 자퇴하고 문학의 길로 전향한다. 의술이 한두명의 환자를 구할 수 있을지언정 썩어 있는 중국인의 정신을 구할 수 없다는 자각에서 였다. 토쿄에서 동생 저우쭤 런(周作人)과 쉬서우창(許壽裳) 등 친구들과 문예잡지 『신생』을 창간해 본격적인 문예운동에 뛰어들고자 했다. 하지만, 상황은 녹녹지 않았고 필진, 자금 등의 고갈과 주변의 냉대로 인해 실패로 돌아가고 말았다. 그러나, 그가 그리고자 한 세계와 내용은 우연한 기회에 연결된 『허난(河南)』이라는 잡지에 발표되면서 일정한 반향을 일으켰다. 하지만, 유학생활은 오래가지 않았고, 귀국해 오랫동안 ‘무쇠로 만든 방’에 갖혀 침잠해야 했다. 반제반봉건 운동이 활발히 전개되는 가운데, 『신청년(新靑年)』이 창간되었고, 루쉰은 침묵을 깨고 글들을 발표해 나간다.

Lu Xun was dispatched to Japan as an overseas student in 1902. Then he went on to a medical college thanks to his knowledge of natural sciences learned in China. One day, however, both the desperation of overseas students from Qing Dynasity(淸朝) and the so-called “Stereopticon event(幻燈機事件)” forced him to drop out of school and turn to literature. This change resulted from his awareness that the rotting Chinese spirit could not be saved even though medical education could save one or two patients. In Tokyo, he launched a literary magazine titled XinSheng with his younger brother, Zhou Zuo-ren(周作人), a friend, Xu Shou-chang (許壽裳) and other friends, and tried to rush into the literary movement. He did not make it due to a loss of writers, funds, and public indifference. Nonetheless, a continuing sensation was created after his world point of view was published in a magazine titled Henan(河南). His overseas life did not last for long, and he was back in China where he should withdraw into ‘a room made of cast iron’. While the anti-imperialist and anti-feudalist movement was actively spreading, the XinQingnian(新靑年) was inaugurated, and Lu Xun broke his silence and published his writings. As a result, the ideas and philosophy of his youth were resurrected, and encountered the world again. Finally he was able to walk as “a full-fledged warrior of the spiritual world”. Here I attempt to analyze the meaning of the failure and resurrection of XinSheng through the process and content of Lu Xun's ideological consciousness, before and after the publication of XinSheng.

1. 여는 글
 2. 루쉰의 꿈, 그리고 고독한 비애
 3.  『신생(新生)』
의 요절(夭折)
 4. 『신생』의 부활
 5. ‘사람 세우기(立人)’
 6. 닫는 글

• 김태만(한국해양대학교 국제대학 동아시아학과) | Kim, Tae-Man