The life and times of Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang (Lin Yu-t'ang) (1895-1976) was a major figure of twentieth-century Chinese intellectual and literary history, and this first study in English fills in many gaps in our understanding of the period. Lin's evaluation of China's cultural legacy led him and others to take a fresh look at the past. His examination of the "familiar essays" (hsiao-p'in wen) of the late Ming is one important example of this. He achieved great popular success in the 1930s when he was known as China's "Master of Humor" (yu-mo ta-shih), and the literary circle which formed around his magazines included Lao She and Chou Tso-jen. A great many fervent political and intellectual controversies swirled around Lin and his writings, and even the merits of "humor" (yu-mo) were debated. In "humor" Lin sought human understanding of an existence "between tears and laughter." Humor, which Lin valued more than satire, grew out of the suffering of the times, and was also a search for the wisdom gained through knowing folly.; Also presented here are Lin's insights into American civilization. Lin, since childhood, through contact with Americans and American influences in southern China, began a lifetime of examining and cross-examining both Chinese and American cultures. Lin spent about thirty of his eighty years in the United States where he became a best-selling author and politically controversial figure (especially in the 1930s and 1940s). This biographical study presents Lin Yutang not only as a mature writer and intellectual who achieved international fame, but also the perspective of a bright and mischievous child, a doubting and sometimes-troubled adolescent, and an angry and idealistic young man.