The many voices of Duying: revisiting the disputed essays between Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren

Abstract Lu Xun (鲁迅) and Zhou Zuoren (周作人) stand as two of the most influential writers in modern Chinese literature. Beyond their familial ties as brothers, they were also intimate collaborators during the nascent stages of their writing careers. This research employs quantitative methods to revisit three disputed essays pseudonymously published by the brothers in 1912. Our stylometric analysis uses an interpretable authorship attribution model to investigate the essays’ authorship and examine the brothers’ respective writing styles. Our findings suggest that ‘Looking at the Country of China’ (望华国篇) was authored by Lu Xun. Moreover, ‘People of Yue, Forget Not Your Ancestors’ Instructions’ (尔越人毋忘先民之训) seems to be either predominantly authored or extensively revised by Lu Xun given its notable stylistic similarities to ‘Looking at the Land of Yue’ (望越篇), a piece Zhou Zuoren recognized as his own, but edited by Lu Xun. The third essay, ‘Where Has the Character of the Republic Gone?’ (民国之征何在), exhibits a ‘diluted’, mixed writing style, suggesting thorough collaboration. We offer visual representations of essay features to facilitate a nuanced and intuitive understanding. We have uncovered evidence suggesting Lu Xun’s covert engagement with social issues during his purported ‘silent era’ and provided insights into the brothers’ formative intellectual trajectories.