內容簡介
《林語堂英文作品集:生活的藝術》是林語堂旅美專事創作後的第一部書，也是繼《吾國與吾民》之後再次獲成功的又一英文作品。《林語堂英文作品集:生活的藝術》於1937年在美國出版，次年便居美國暢銷書排行榜榜首達52周，且接連再版四十餘次，並為十餘種文字所翻譯。林語堂在該書中將曠懷達觀，陶情遣興的中國人的生活方式，和浪漫高雅的東方情調予以充分的傳達，向西方人娓娓道出了一個可供效仿的“生活最高典型”的模式，以致有書評家（Peter Precott）稱：“讀完這書後，我真想跑到唐人街，一遇見中國人，便向他行個鞠躬禮。”
《林語堂英文作品集》是林語堂用英文創作的一系列作品，曾經轟動歐美文壇，影響深遠，一直被視為闡述東方文化的權威著作。此外。本套圖書獨家原版引進，眾多著作以英文原貌首次登入國內；數十幅珍貴老照片真實回味過去的時光。重磅上市，值得珍藏！
作者簡介
林語堂（1895-1976），福建龍溪人。原名和樂，後改玉堂，又改語堂。1912年入上海聖約翰大學，畢業後在清華大學任教。1919年秋赴美哈佛大學文學系。1922年獲義學碩士學位。同年轉赴德國入萊比錫大學，專攻語言學。1923年獲博士學位後回國，任北京大學教授、北京女子師範大學教務長和英文系主任。1924年後為《語絲》主要撰稿人之一。1926午到廈門大學任文學院長。1927年任外交部秘書。l932年主編《論語》半月刊。1934年創辦《人間世》，1935年刨辦《宇宙風》，提倡“以自我為中心，以閒適為格調”的小品文。1935年後，在美國用英文寫《吾國與吾民》、《京華煙雲》、《風聲鶴唳》等文化著作和長篇小說。1944年曾一度回國到重慶講學。1945年赴新加坡籌建南洋火學，任校長。1952年在美國與人創辦“天風》雜誌。1966年定居台灣。1967年受聘為香港中文大學研究教授。1975年被推舉為國際筆會副會長。1976年在香港逝世。
精彩點評
媒體推薦
讀林先生的書使人得到很大啟發。我非常感激他，因為他的書使我大開眼界。只有一位優秀的中國人才能這樣坦誠、信實而又毫不偏頗地論述他的同胞。
——《紐約時報》星期日書評
名人推薦
雖然他講的是數十年前中國的精彩，但他的話，即使在今天，對我們每一個美國人都很受用。
——美國總統布希
書籍目錄
FORWARD
PREFACE
Chapter One THE AWAKENING
Ⅰ.APPROACH TO LIFE
Ⅱ.A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA
Ⅲ.THE SCAMP AS IDEAL
Chapter Two VIEWS OF MANKIND
Ⅰ.CHRISTIAN, GREEK AND CHINESE
Ⅱ.EARTH-BOUND
Ⅲ.A BIOLOGICAL VIEW
Ⅳ.HUMAN LIFE A POEM
Chapter Three OUR ANIMAL HERITAGE
Ⅰ.THE MONKEY EPIC
Ⅱ.IN THE IMAGE OF THE MONKEY
Ⅲ.ON BEING MORTAL
Ⅳ.ON HAVING A STOMACH
Ⅴ.ON HAVING STRONG MUSCLES
Ⅵ.ON HAVING A MIND
Chapter Four ON BEING HUMAN
Ⅰ.ON HUMAN DIGNITY
Ⅱ.ON PLAYFUL CURIOSITY: THE RISE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION
Ⅲ.ON DREAMS
Ⅳ.ON THE SENSE OF HUMOUR
Ⅴ.ON BEING WAYWARD AND INCALCULABLE
Ⅵ.THE DOCTRINE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Chapter Five WHO CAN BEST ENJOY LIFE？
Ⅰ.FIND THYSELF: CHUANGTSE
Ⅱ.PASSION, WISDOM AND COURAGE: MENCIUS
Ⅲ.CYNICISM, FOLLY AND CAMOUFLAGE: LAOTSE
Ⅳ."PHILOSOPHY OF HALF-AND-HALF": TSESSE
Ⅴ.A LOVER OF LIFE: T'AO YUANMING
Chapter Six THE FEAST OF LIFE
Ⅰ.THE PROBLEM OF HAPPINESS
Ⅱ.HUMAN HAPPINESS IS SENSUOUS
Ⅲ.CHIN'S THIRTY-THREE HAPPY MOMENTS
Ⅳ.MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF MATERIALISM
Ⅴ.HOW ABOUT MENTAL PLEASURES?
Chapter Seven THE IMPORTANCE OF LOAFING
Ⅰ.MAN THE ONLY WORKING ANIMAL
Ⅱ.THE CHINESE THEORY OF LEISURE
Ⅲ.THE CULT OF THE IDLE LIFE
Ⅳ.THIS EARTH THE ONLY HEAVEN
Ⅴ.WHAT IS LUCK?
Ⅵ.THREE AMERICAN VICES
Chapter Eight THE ENJOYMENT OF THE HOME
Ⅰ.ON GETTING BIOLOGICAL
Ⅱ.CELIBACY A FREAK OF CIVILIZATION
Ⅲ.ON SEX APPEAL
Ⅳ.THE CHINESE FAMILY IDEAL
Ⅴ.ON GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY
Chapter Nine THE ENJOYMENT OF LMNG
Ⅰ.ON LYING IN BED
Ⅱ.ON SITTING IN CHAIRS
Ⅲ.ON CONVERSATION o
Ⅳ.ON TEA AND FRIENDSHIP
Ⅴ.ON SMOKE AND INCENSE
Ⅵ.ON DRINK AND WINE GAMES
Ⅶ.ON FOOD AND MEDICINE
Ⅷ.SOME CURIOUS WESTERN CUSTOMS
Ⅸ.THE INHUMANITY OF WESTERN DRESS
Ⅹ.ON HOUSE AND iNTERIORS
Chapter Ten THE ENJOYMENT OF NATURE
Ⅰ.PARADISE LOST?
Ⅱ.ON BIGNESS
Ⅲ.TWO CHINESE LADIES
Ⅳ.ON ROCKS AND TREES
Ⅴ.ON FLOWERS AND FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS
Ⅵ.THE "VASE FLOWERS" OF YUAN CHUNGLANG
Ⅶ.THE EPIGRAMS OF CHANG CH'AO
Chapter Eleven THE ENJOYMENT OF TRAVEL
Ⅰ.ON GOING ABOUT AND SEEING THINGS
Ⅱ."THE TRAVELS OF MINGLIAOTSE"
Chapter Twelve THE ENJOYMENT OF CULTURE
Ⅰ.GOOD TASTE IN KNOWLEDGE
Ⅱ.ART AS PLAY AND PERSONALITY
Ⅲ.THE ART OF READING
Ⅳ.THE ART OF WRITING
Chapter Thirteen RELATIONSHIP TO GOD
Ⅰ.THE RESTORATION OF RELIGION
Ⅱ.WHY I AMA PAGAN
Chapter Fourteen THE ART OF THINKING
Ⅰ.TIlE NEED OF HUMANIZED THINKING
Ⅱ.THE RETURN TO COMMON SENSE
Ⅲ.BE REASONABLE
CERTAIN CHINESE NAMES
A CHINESE CRITICAL VOCABULARY
WADE-GILES TO PINY1N CONVERSION TABLE
WORKS IN ENGLISH BY LIN YUTANG
文摘
An excellent illustration of a perfectly sound mind is provided by theEnglish. The English have got bad logic, but very good tentacles in theirbrains for sensing danger and preserving life. I have not been able to discoveranything logical in their national behaviour or their rational history. Theiruniversities, their constitution, their Anglican Church are all pieces ofpatchwork, being the steady accretions of a process of historical growth. Thevery strength of the British Empire consists in the English lack of cerebration,in their total inability to see the other man's point of view, and in their strongconviction that the English way is the only right way and English food is theonly good food. The moment Englishmen learn to reason and lose their strongconfidence in themselves, the British Empire will collapse. For no one cango about conquering the world if he has doubts about himself. You can make absolutely nothing out of the English attitude toward their king, their loyalty to, and their quite genuine affection for, a king who is deprived by them of the liberty of speech and is summarily told to behave or quit the throne.... When Elizabethan England needed pirates to protect the Empire, she was able to produce enough pirates to meet the situation and glorified them. In every period, England was able to fight the tight war, against the right enemy, with the right ally, on the right side, at the right time, and call it by a wrong name. They didn't do it by logic, did they？ They did it by their tentacles.
序言
One morning in 19o5, or the 3tth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu ofQing Dynasty, two brothers set out by boat from their hometown Boa-ah, amountain hamlet in Fujian Province on the southern coast of China, for theport city of Xiamen, some sixty miles away. The boys were full of excitementand chatter, especially the younger one. Yutang was ten years old, and today, hewas taking leave of his hometown and going with his brother to study in Xiamen.They were sons of Pastor Lin Zhicheng, who was born in the poor village ofWulisha. Pastor Lin was sending his sons to free missionary schools in Xiamen.
The Pastor was not a follower of convention, so the boys did not wearqueues. Yutang was a little guy, deeply tanned, with a prominent forehead, apair of sparkling eyes, and a narrow chin. Six miles later, when the skiff cameto Xiaoxi, the boys changed to a five-sail junk, and sailed toward Zhangzhouon West River. There were paddy fields and farmhouses on either side ofthe river, and tall mountains stood behind them, clad in grey-purplishhues. Yutang thought it inexpressibly beautiful. After a day's journey, the junkwas tied up against the bank under some bamboo trees. Yutang was told to liedown, cover himself with a blanket and go to sleep.
But sleep was the last thing on the boy's mind. The boatman sitting at the junk's stern was sucking at his pipe, and between gulps of bitter tea, telling stories about the Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled the court today, having put the Emperor Guangxu under house arrest for supporting the reformers at the palace. Another junk was tied up on the opposite bank, brightly lit by lanterns. A soft breeze wafted sounds of merrymaking and music from a lute across the water. Oh, what a beautiful scene！
