Brief introduction of Lin Yutang's critical prose

Criticism is a school of prose in 1930s. The protagonist is Lin Yutang. The main publications are The Analects of Confucius, Life on Earth, and Cosmic Wind. They mainly publish essays and advocate humor, leisure and spirituality. Advocate "self-centered, leisure as the style of writing" and adopt a liberal stance of keeping a distance from politics. The early articles in The Analects of Confucius can still touch the disadvantages of the times, and there is irony in humor. After 1934, the edge of irony has weakened day by day, and humor has also flowed into telling jokes and having fun. This led to an argument between left-wing writers and them.

Lin Yutang has been talking humorously with his childlike innocence. /kloc-0 published "Prose Translation and Advocating Humor" in the supplement of Morning Post in May, 924, which translated "humor" in western languages into "humor" for the first time. The word "humor" first appeared in Nine Chapters of Huai Sha's Songs of the South, which means silence. Lin Yutang used it skillfully.

More than three years later, Lin Yutang came to Shanghai from Hankou and continued to be keen on humor. On September 1932 and 16, Lin Yutang, Pan Guangdan, Shao, and others initiated the publication of The Analects. In the editor's postscript, the title is explained as follows: "We are colleagues and often get together to chat ... this is the source of our word" Shang ". As for the word' language', it means dialogue, which means we chat. " This bimonthly magazine is good at humor and leisure, and it is ironic to expose the dark reality with laughter. It is a blockbuster. The inaugural issue was printed repeatedly, and the circulation of each issue quickly reached 30,000 to 40,000 copies. Immediately, humorous publications appeared one after another, and humorous articles became fashionable, and even the following year was called "humorous year" in Shanghai literary world.

1933 February 17, Irish comedian Bernard Shaw stopped in Shanghai on his way around the world, and Soong Ching Ling gave a banquet for him. Lin Yutang also went to accompany him. He had a very interesting conversation with Bernard Shaw in English. Then, Lin Yutang seized the opportunity to launch a special issue of The Analects of Confucius on March 1 of the same year, and published a group of articles introducing Bernard Shaw, which contributed to the "humor fever" in society.

In addition to The Analects of Confucius, Lin Yutang also edited The World on Earth (1April 934) and Cosmic Wind (1September 935). Lin Yutang often writes his own articles to explain the meaning of humor, and regards it as a state of mind, an attitude towards life and an aesthetic style. In his humor, he even thinks: "No matter which country's culture, life, literature and thoughts need to be nourished by closely combined humor." Without humor, people's culture will become more and more hypocritical, people's lives will become more and more fraudulent, people's thoughts will become more and more pedantic, people's literature will become more and more dry, and people's hearts will become more and more stubborn. Lin Yutang and his colleagues actively advocated humorous literature, advocating that the style of writing is "light", "meaningful" and "sweet", demanding that the works have the characteristics of "spirit" and "leisure", and gradually became a prose genre.