Su Dongpo, a household name in China. For a scholar like Lin Yutang, I naturally feel more cordial about this name. There is no doubt that Lin Yutang's love for Su Dongpo transcends the general boundaries. The essence of this book lies in the passionate narration in the preface: "Su Dongpo is a hopeless optimist, a great humanist, a friend of the people, a great writer, a great calligrapher, an innovative painter, an experimenter in brewing, an engineer, a puritan hater, a Buddhist in yoga, a great Confucian politician, a secretary of the emperor, Brewmaster. Astronaut, poet, clown. But this is not enough to tell the whole story of Su Dongpo ... Su Dongpo is more versatile than other poets in China, rich in sense of change and sense of humor, with superior intelligence, but a naive child-this mixture is equal to the wisdom of snakes and the gentleness of pigeons. " This has completely summed up a book and a life. Fascinating. But I don't believe Lin Yutang, because his flattering attitude has proved his objectivity, and Su Dongpo's life is also debatable. But even so, I was fascinated by his narrative and description. I'd rather believe that such people exist in this world. At the same time, I believe that Lin Yutang loves Su Dongpo so much because he is the person he can't be in this life. This is a problem that each of us can't avoid all our lives, but even if we can't become it, it is very gratifying to be able to walk on the road with the same values. Just like those readers who call themselves "Wang Xiaobo's lackeys", in fact, their hearts are full of a childlike spirit, simple happiness, freedom and lightness.
According to the investigation, this book was written by Lin Yutang when he was in the United States, and the original edition of John Day Company in the United States has an English version. On the internet, there are also many people who have doubts about this book. But whether it is "cheating foreigners" or comforting one's own soul, this book brings us an uncertain Su Dongpo, but it also makes people think deeply.
In the official story, the first volume mainly tells the story of Su Dongpo's childhood and adolescence. Because of his outstanding talent, he went to Beijing with his father and brother to catch the exam, and his life was full of twists and turns, which is legendary. In the narrative, it is not simply keeping a running account, but Mr. Lin Yutang read a lot of written materials, including Su Dongpo's notes, poems and personal letters, before writing them down in pen and ink in a serious way. This is enough to show that Mr. Lin Yutang should be very fond of Su Dongpo. He mentioned in Notes on Chinese Studies that "in other words, Zhuangzi is the most important writer in China; More than 1,400 years later, a genius who can be compared with him appeared, Su Dongpo. " But the more so, the easier it is for the author's subjective thoughts to be mixed into the book, and for a biography of a character, this kind of mistake is often more difficult to distinguish, so Su Dongpo in Su Dongpo's biography is not necessarily Su Dongpo, but a person imagined by the author in his mind, with the qualities he thinks he has, so things and remarks at that time may change a little. At this time, you should think carefully when reading this book.
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