extreme reaction to the life-denying tendencies of the Middle Ages which began with modern science, just as the rule of the majority was an extreme reaction toward the doctrine of the divine right of kings. These reactions, he declares, had gone too far, as reactions have a way of doing and must be rectified and remedied. In the course of his exposition he cites extensively Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Ibsen, Stirner and other rebel spirits of the nineteenth century and cautioned the Chinese not to follow too blindly the superficial aspects of Western civilization.
In the fourth essay Lusin surveys at some length what he calls the power of Mara poetry, after the Hindu god of destruction and rebellion. Here we find, of course, the classic exposition of the spirit of man in terms of Apollonian conservatism and Dionysian rebellion, popularized a generation back by Nietzsche and his followers. Here we find also his admonition to his fellow country men that the way to raise the prestige of their country was by new achievements, not by boasting about its past.
These essays were published in obscure student magazines. Not only did they meet with no response at the time, it is doubtful that more than a handful of people have read them to this day, though they were included with others in Tomb, published in 1926. For one thing they were not only in the old literary style but also in a rather archaic literary style; but the real reason is that even to this day they represent a dissenting minority view.
Thus it was in a disillusioned mood that he went back to China in 1909. He taught for a while at Hangchow and then at his native city Shao-hsing. His experience as a teacher could not have been a happy one as reflected in "A Hermit at Large." The achievement of the political revolution of 1911
