On Lin Yutang's Prose View

Lin Yutang's essays, such as Dongpo Gossip, Fishing in new york, An Interview with Tainan, and On Everything in Western Neo-Confucianism, can best reflect the richness and beauty of openness and are more artistic and natural. Lin Yutang's prose does not pay attention to the overall idea, nor does it pay attention to the authority of composition or writing rules. He believes: "stereotyped writing has laws, articles can't, and articles have laws, so it becomes stereotyped writing." ⑦ For this reason, Lin Yutang appreciated Jin Shengtan's Preface to the Water Margin. The preface begins with a sentence: "Don't get married at the age of 30, let alone get married; Forty without being an official, let alone an official; Fifty is not suitable for living and sixty is not suitable for walking. " Suddenly it's completely emotional. The full text laments that time flies and life is short. Talking about the fun of friends gathering and talking has nothing to do with the water margin, just for fun. Someone must have accused Jin Shengtan of digressing. But what does it matter if the article is irrelevant? What's important is that the author expresses his feelings of life that he is surging inside and eager to vent. It is because of his hatred of "rules" that Lin Yutang finds it strange that a knowledgeable person like Jin Shengtan, an uninhibited talent, is sometimes confused and unconsciously trapped under rules and syntax. He wrote Jin Shengtan's storytelling specially designed for the author to calculate the suppression, and he was full of "wonderful, wonderful". It's really a dwarf who can't fathom the elephant. ⑧ Lin Yutang also pointed out that the turning point from the beginning to the end of the article, etc., are all formed along the natural waves of literary thinking, which are ever-changing, like steep cliffs, deep pools and shallow streams, without clever management, but karma has its own twists and turns, which is beyond the control of the construction law of Tang Ming Temple. Therefore, Lin Yutang's prose has a new format and a different style. Most of the structures are very casual, and there are no traces of ups and downs, colors and echoes. Only the natural rhythm flows, emitting a simple atmosphere. This is Lin Yutang's own tone. It constitutes Lin Yutang's "personal style" with true feelings and original opinions. Lin Yutang's attitude towards free writing is just the opposite of Liang Shiqiu's. Writing should be like running water, with no definite quality at first, always doing what you should do and always stopping at what you should do. This is what Su Dongpo said, and Lin Yutang sincerely agrees. Liang Shiqiu believes that this is "a lot of talents, and people are out of reach." He also said that Xu Zhimo was a writer, and he claimed to run wild horses. He belongs to the category of "endless writing". Brilliant as he is, he is not an article. Pet-name ruby Lin Yutang talk with composition, Liang Shiqiu talk with composition. Liang Shiqiu even thinks that the conversation should be rigorous, with a theme, a draft, a hierarchy, a beginning and an end. He criticized: "Not many people are willing to write articles, and even fewer people know how to cut them." It sounds incredible to Lin Yutang that the conversation should also be tailored. Therefore, Lin Yutang is a disciple of Benedetto Close, an expressionist who advocates breaking the shackles, and Liang Shiqiu is a disciple of IrvingBabbit, a new humanist. Babbitt talks about "article discipline". No wonder Liang Shiqiu's essays are sophisticated and structured. This is naturally one of the characteristics of modern prose. But Liang Shiqiu put too much emphasis on composition. Yu Dafu quoted a passage from an article published by Liang Shiqiu in "New Moon": "People who write essays recently don't know that they are too demanding of nature and ignore art too much, and often fall into a bumpy road. No matter what kind of topic you write, all kinds of essays are laughing and cursing, and the tone of sucking cars and selling pulp and cursing streets has become the normal state of prose. There is emotion in such arrogant words, but there is no tone. " Yu Dafu asked: "When writing prose, do you have to wear a big dress, a tall hat and white gloves to dig out the literal words in the anthology?" Lin Yutang is also arrogant in the use of language. He dares to curse "damn it" and often calls it "dog prick" He once said: "Bitches curse the streets and often approach the words of saints." (Smoke Dust IV Cosmic Wind No.6) It is the use of vulgar and vulgar language that makes Lin Yutang's prose closer to the tone of gossip. Lin Yutang attaches great importance to the vital factors in common sayings and dialects. He has talked many times about the great success of A Dream of Red Mansions in the use of proverbs, laughing that some modern literati are not even as good as Xiren Zijuan. In his article, words such as "now", "change your mind" and "dying" abound. In addition, Lin Yutang's articles are humorous or silly, or hilarious or humorous, which is also abnormal evidence and a sign of gossip. Although Lin Yutang's prose poems are unorganized, they are often touching in artistic expression. That's natural, too, for example, ants eat wood and occasionally write it. Another example is the extraordinary skilled workers, who are careless and elusive everywhere. Reading Lin Yutang's Constitution again, the more I chew it, the more I feel that the word "you" in the title is very solid. Only this sentence conveys the true nature of the Kuomintang, which is accustomed to autocracy and political tricks, and the author's dissatisfaction and disdain. The constitution was concocted in the past, but now it is coming again, so it is called "coming again". Constantly drafting and passing the constitution or other so-called "laws" always makes these armchair things just things, and the bitch is taken in and the memorial archway is set up. Therefore, the so-called "Republic of China" is ultimately "the official country of China". Lin Yutang's How to Wash the Vernacular Writing published in the No.1 13 issue of Human World talked about the words used in A Dream of Red Mansions, and pointed out that "you are also a vivid word" by taking "you play tricks in front of you" as an example. In Lin Yutang's prose, thousands of examples abound. Broken Morning Post, published in the third issue of The Analects of Confucius, wrote at the beginning: "In winter and October, Dai Chuanxian, the president of the senior high school entrance examination, opened the Wang Ren National Defense Law Society in the capital, fasting the master 173 people and the Central Committee member 10 people." In this passage, the word "autumn" is the most spiritual. "Squeeze" makes the dog also. So I swept away Dai's insidious and heckler's stupidity. This word was also used in Wei Yuan's Wu Sheng Ji in the Qing Dynasty: "Ma Ruan and Guo An were in charge of the sacrifice of the country, and the country took off and sailed. "Liang Shiqiu's National Day speech:" I was ten years old during the Revolution of 1911. ..... On the 12th day of the first month of the following year, Yuan Shikai defected in Cao Kun and Ping Jin was plundered. This is my first blow. "Lin Yutang's prose is good at replacing abstract arguments with descriptive language, such as this passage in the preface of New Literary Criticism (Wild Collection):"/kloc-poor Rousseau, the ancestor of romanticism who died 50 years ago, was pulled out of the coffin by Professor Babbitt and flogged in the Harvard lecture hall, pointing out that he was the chief culprit of the decadent modern literary trend of thought, and he was about to come to the Far East and be executed for the third time. "The so-called" third execution "means that Liang Shiqiu compiled Babbitt's thesis translated by Wu Mi and others into Babbitt and Humanism, which was published in China. Lin Yutang often inserts a relatively complete description of form and action in his discourse, and even inserts a whole dialogue or story. When talking about the ridiculous eating habits of westerners, he wrote: "He bravely held a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, saying that he was eating meat." Another example: "The tabloid stood up and said what was in her heart and scratched her itchy place. Because of this, the officials and thieves got scared and whispered, "Is the tabloid scolding me? Is the tabloid cursing me? " The ending of Guanju Justice (Tell Everything) is the best, it is a complete and interesting life detail. Lin Yutang's composition is metaphorical, always novel and penetrating. He said that there is a kind of literati, full of coquettish spirits, and their articles read like a wry smile in Yaojie. He also said that literature, such as folk works, must have its own terminology. For quite a period of time, these terms seem to have their own existence, and craftsmen can no longer operate civil bridges and roads, but can only argue fiercely about these terms; Factions are also divided by terms, and there is a lot of evidence that a term cleverly builds a portal. Many of our "literary theorists" are really craftsmen who only know terminology and can only play "terminology" karate. Lin Yutang's prose is used to listing, often putting together seemingly disjointed things, bringing out his unique humor. Lin Yutang's contrast is always meaningful: "The German people can swear allegiance to God and Hitler, but if a British Nazi party swears allegiance to God and Russell, Russell must be ashamed." "America has some bad music, but there are also good things to collect music." Lin Yutang sometimes speaks wittily and is especially thoughtful: "In art, there is a phenomenon that many things in Japan are lovely, but few are beautiful." "China has a constitution that guarantees human rights, but there is no constitution that guarantees human rights." Lin Yutang can also use an allusion in the right place to make the words colorful at once. Lin Yutang's The Art of Life quotes an old saying: "A sage speaks carelessly, but a wise man speaks without argument. People who can't talk make statements, people who can't argue. Language is the essence of theory, and argument is the dross of theory. " In China's ancient books, Laozi and the Analects of Confucius are models of "language". The quotations of those lines are well written, such as the night pearl, which is enough to stand out from the rest of the world; Another example is a meteor in the middle of the night, which suddenly appears and disappears, and I don't know its source and whereabouts. Lin Yutang believes that later generations have lost the talent of "language" and are good at argument, so more and more articles are written. The difference between language and theory is that the former directly expresses opinions and makes judgments without relying on deduction, induction or logic. Debate is one of the theories. The general theory only cares about its own logical perfection, and argument is also to find and attack each other's logical defects. Lin Yutang paid more attention to language than theory, and extremely despised argument, convinced that Taoist argument was useless. It can be said that language, regardless of it, is his conscious effort after the 1930s, and the effect of this effort is more obvious in everything. There are many articles about everything: Gao Benhan, Voltaire, Dongpo and hometown. At the end of talking about Mr. Qian Mu's philosophy, Lin Yutang said that he "wrote a little personal opinion without superficiality" and "miscellaneous writing was only used as a talk, not as a theory". In fact, Lin Yutang has already explained the writing principle of the book in "The Order of Everything": that is, if there is an opinion, it should be written in an easy-to-understand way, with simple meaning, no emphasis on theory and no involvement in metaphysics. The kindness and informality of "talking" have been mentioned before. What needs to be emphasized here is that "talk" includes "language", but "language" highlights the illogical and non-theoretical side of "talk" and "theory". Lin Yutang's prose is straightforward, straightforward and quick. He did not try his best to prove anything to others, nor did he see any attempt to make what he said an impeccable "theory" or "truth". The views of the article are endless, and they never need any theoretical basis or "ism". Most of them are common sense and common sense. In performance, I will never quote classics and fiddle with conceptual terms, but rely on a lot of vivid materials to express my views, including stories, poems, historical facts, anecdotes and life experiences, life details and so on. The above-mentioned "thinking of Confucius" led to Confucius' shame. "After the people in the old museum mourned, they teased the child's sorrow with drums and musical instruments, and were told that he was a lost dog, and so on. There were also Confucius' swearing, self-mockery, gossiping and dealing with villains, which brought out a fresh Confucius. Language Regardless originated from Lin Yutang's persistent deep doubts about the reliability of theory and logic. This kind of wisdom makes Lin Yutang pay attention to observing real life, and his articles are far from reality and trend thinking, close to reality and strange. Articles are the most rare, one is the backbone and the other is unfamiliar. The former is the product of independent personality and the latter is the product of unique thoughts, but they are inseparable. Lin Yutang's prose calls for a return to the true spirit of common sense, simplicity and moderation, praises the unique humanitarianism of primitive Confucianism, reveals the feminine character of China culture, and points out that China Taoism's concept of moderation and inaction is the right medicine for the madness of modern western civilization, and so on. In the 1930s, he resolutely criticized the educational system and teaching methods that we are still pursuing, and repeatedly emphasized the significance of the rule of law. This is rare among modern writers. In Lin Yutang's casual prose, we can always read a concise sentence, which is the crystallization of defamiliarization: "There is no difference between the old and the new, only the difference between true and false." "It is only the embellishment of the last days that catches up with the excitement, not the prosperous times." "Action without thinking may be stupid, but action without common sense often leads to tragedy." They come from the author's understanding and wonderful perception of the world and life. Lin Yutang did the most difficult thing for a scholar, so affectionate that he rejected extremes, Taoism and dogma, which was beyond the reach of ordinary people who endorsed and resigned themselves. He knows what is the truth of existence and what is the nonsense of scholars. What he says is fair and accessible. Lin Yutang's gossip prose is not only unique in thought, but also rich in knowledge, ranging from literature, philosophy, religion and art to smoking, drinking tea and shopping. All-encompassing, brushwork runs through China and foreign countries, from ancient times to the present. Specific to an article, let go of your hands and feet, hook up and down, and concentrate on making a high-density material group and knowledge group. Lin Yutang read a lot, learned a lot and recited it. He has the knowledge of scholars first, so he can speak patiently, but when he speaks, he is radiant and has a good time. His articles on culture are more insightful. Lin Yutang's gossip prose is rich and simple. The language is unpretentious, unpretentious and innovative, except for those recorded and classical Chinese styles made for experiments in the 1930 s, which are clean and simple and have a high degree of colloquialism. As mentioned above, only traditional and ordinary methods are used for expression, and "modern" tricks are not used. Articles are rich, easy and difficult. Lin Yutang said: "All scholars' articles are difficult to understand, and most of them are fiddling with nouns and quoting classics, which are in-depth and not simple, but just lost their books." "This is the reason why knowledge is more than knowledge. When you see Ming Dow, you can understand things clearly and get a clean world. Naturally, you can tell a simple truth. " At the same time, he said that when the reason is ripe, people often don't have to take the main road, but can take the path, cross the field, climb the fence and suddenly get home, which makes people in the same industry amazed. In fact, the chat style is winding and secluded. Taking "I" as good, careless, regardless of language, unpretentious, coupled with its high knowledge and cultural content, transcendental concept, extraordinary wisdom, relatively calm state of mind, leisurely and strong interest in life, has merged into the overall style of Lin Yutang's chat prose. It reflects the common requirements of gossip prose and other functions of literature, such as Tao Qing, recreation and enlightening people's minds. It focuses on leisure. "Leisure" is a generalization of "talking style" and "personal style", and it is also the basic aesthetic feature of all casual prose. This feature distinguishes gossip prose from fighting, sentimental decadent or passionate lyrical fantasy. Lin Yutang once thought, "No matter how serious the topic is, it involves the great changes and turmoil of the motherland, or the destruction of civilization in the torrent of crazy political thoughts, which makes mankind lose the goal of freedom, dignity and even happiness, and even involves important issues of truth and justice, this concept can still be expressed in a casual, leisurely and cordial way." This is suspicious. In the face of great disasters or extreme ugliness, it is impossible for a conscientious writer to keep a relaxed mood and write in a loose style. Instead, he can only be condemned by anger, rage and righteous words. This is also the reason why gossip prose and leisure style were somewhat backward and had to be marginalized in China in 1930s and 40s. In fact, Lin Yutang's own gossip prose has his own series of materials, which talk about culture, philosophy of life and general social problems, and does not involve big rape and big evil. Of course, this kind of prose still has its value, it can't exist, and it can't be unique. He Qifang's prose shows his persistent pursuit of perfection in artistic form. In terms of poetry, he paid great attention to complete form, rigorous rhythm and harmonious rhythm at the beginning of his creation, and paid attention to expressing the image and artistic conception of poetry. So his poems are obviously exquisite and gorgeous. In prose creation, he claimed that "my job is to find a new garden for lyric prose". He is good at combining the characteristics of poetry, writing rich and touching words, borrowing novel metaphors and allusions, and rendering magical colors and patterns, which makes his prose unique.