Ah Q - Ah Q

...There is an anecdote that, when it was serialized in the newspaper "Chen Pao" in 1921, the sharpness of its satire caused a misguided furor among Beijing's intellectuals about its modeling. The protagonist, a vagrant farmer named Ah Q, is a lowly person with no known name, no fixed job, no connection with women, deprived of his "sexuality," and, on top of that, plagued by a sense of inferiority due to his physical baldness. By having Ah Q interact with people from various classes in rural society, the author mercilessly exposes their meanness and cruelty, while also exposing the falsehood of people at the higher classes that are most easily seen when viewed from Ah Q's position at the bottom. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Ah Q" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…1921年に新聞《晨報》に連載中から，その風刺の鋭さゆえに，北京の知識人のあいだで見当はずれにもモデル騒ぎがもち上がった，というエピソードがある。主人公のルンペン農民阿Qは，姓名も定かでなく，定まった職業はおろか，女性にも縁なく“性”すら奪われ，おまけに肉体的にははげの劣等感に悩まされるという，およそ最低の存在である。作者は，この阿Qを農村社会のさまざまな階層の人間とかかわらせるなかで，その卑劣さや残酷さを容赦なくえぐり出すとともに，阿Qの底位置から見るとき，もっともよくすけて見えるそれより上層に位置する人間の虚偽をも暴いた。…

※「阿 Ｑ」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報