Awakening through Madness:
Trauma as Cultural Diagnosis in Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman
Biswajit Payra
ABSTRACT
This article is devoted to the study of trauma
portrayed in Lu Xun’s ‘Diary of a Madman’(1918), a landmark work in
modern Chinese literature that explores trauma through the lens of
social and cultural oppression where the protagonist’s madness
exposes the hidden cruelty of society under feudal traditions. In
this story, madness functions as a form of traumatic awakening,
revealing the moral corruption, fear, and normalized violence that
ordinary people fail to see. The fragmented diary form mirrors the
disrupted consciousness caused by trauma, reflecting how it affects
memory, perception, and daily life.
Through the lens of trauma studies, this paper argues that Lu Xun
uses madness as a tool to expose cultural and social trauma, making
his work a powerful critique of moral and ethical failure in
society. Through this lens, the story not only reflects personal
suffering but also serves as a diagnosis of a society wounded by
tradition, oppression, and fear.
This paper argues how Lu Xun uses madness as a narrative strategy
that reveals cultural and social trauma in addition to critiquing
feudal traditions and societal oppression through symbolic and
psychological representations.
Keywords: Trauma-Studies, Cultural-Trauma, Madness, Collective
Trauma, Chinese Literature.
