저우쭤런의 박물학 취향과 ‘초목충어(草木蟲魚)’ 산문

Abstract

In this paper, we discussed Zhou Zuoren’s taste for natural history and specific aspects of his natural prose. Zhou Zuoren had been interested in plants and animals since childhood and loved reading natural history books. He also became interested in the process of human evolution under the influence of evolution theory, which was popular at the time. This interest naturally led to an interest in biology, which led to recognition of the importance of biological knowledge in understanding and researching human problems. The biggest change in Zhou Zuoren’s prose in the mid-1920s was the pursuit of ‘Art of Life’ and an interest in the various daily lives around him. In this process, wild plants, trees, birds, and insects commonly seen in everyday life became the subject matter of prose. Most of them were things that were closely related to daily life, such as seasonal customs, food, and play, or were common and were very close to humans. The main characteristic of Grasses, Trees, Insects and Fishes prose during this period was the combination of folk customs and human emotions, along with natural knowledge of the object itself. Another characteristic of Grasses, Trees, Insects and Fishes prose is that it seeks to correct errors in traditional knowledge about animals and plants. Mainly, among various literary records or folk legends about animals and plants, it looked for information that had been misrepresented or did not conform to scientific common sense, and pointed out and criticized the errors. From this critical consciousness, Zhou Zuoren attempted to provide a foundation for building a new ethics based on scientific knowledge by verifying and criticizing various past documents that recorded knowledge about animals and plants.