Research On Literary Creation Under The Influence Of Lin Yutang's Religious Thoughts

As a controversial writer in Chinese modern literature, Lin Yutang attracted a lot of attention because of his complex faith road which began from a Christian to a pagan and eventually return to Christianity. As Lin Yutang’s life background, religious beliefs helps build his personality and creative attitude, and also contributed to his diverse literary works.Lin Yutang has a deep spiritual connection with Christianity, he created some characters with Christian spiritual personality. His novels are often filled with the atmosphere of Christian culture. Christianity, in the era of faith absence, brings the divine glory to Lin Yutang’s literary creation.Pagan period was the most energetic period of Lin Yutang, and also the most abundant period of his work. Thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism constitute another latitude of Lin Yutang’s literature, and also become the important spiritual resources of his writing in a heterogeneous environment. Lin Yutang’s creation focus on human life and destiny, and put religious transcendence into daily life. Lin Yutang’s literary creation is not entirely synchronized with the various period of faith, but his pursuit of humanism is consistent. He had learned the ideal state of human soul from different religions. But excessive optimism and tolerance also infect his creation with the limitations of idealism. Characters in his creation are relatively flat. But we cannot ignore that his pursuit of divine spirit made his creation full of aesthetic disinterestedness and constant care to human nature. He plays a unique role among the intellectuals in the twentieth Century.