In "Talk About Everything", Lin Yutang's "Gossip about Dongpo", "Records of Fishing in New York", "Records of Travels in Tainan" and "On Western Neo-Confucianism" best reflect the richness and extension of openness The beauty is more artistic and natural, with full gestures. Relatedly, Lin Yutang's prose does not pay attention to overall conception, nor does it pay attention to the authority of composition or writing rules. He believed: "There are rules for eight-legged writing, but there is no way for articles. If there are rules for articles, they become eight-legged writing." ⑦ For this reason, Lin Yutang appreciated Jin Shengtan's "Preface to the Water Margin". The preface begins with a sentence: "If you are not married at thirty, you should not marry again; if you are not in office at forty, you should not change your official position; at fifty you should not be at home; at sixty you should not travel." It comes suddenly and is completely emotional. Xingzhiyan. The full text laments the passage of time and the shortness of life, and talks about the joy of gathering with friends. This has nothing to do with "Water Margin" and is just a play on the topic. Some people will definitely accuse Jin Shengtan’s article of being out of topic. But what does it matter if the article is not on topic? What is important is that the author vividly expressed his feelings about life that were surging in his heart and eager to express them out loud. Precisely because he hated "rules", Lin Yutang found it strange that a knowledgeable and unruly person like Jin Shengtan would sometimes get confused and unknowingly get trapped in rules and syntax and be unable to extricate himself. He wrote that Jin Shengtan's book review specifically calculated the first suppression and the second suppression for the author, and kept saying "wonderful, wonderful". It was really a dwarf trying to touch an elephant, and he couldn't figure it out. ⑧Lin Yutang also pointed out that the succession, turn, and so on of the article emerged from the natural waves of literary thought. It is ever-changing, like dangerous cliffs and deep valleys, deep pools and shallow streams, without any ingenuity, but the fate and chance have created the beauty of their twists and turns. , It is not something that can be regulated by the rules of construction of Mingtang temple.

Therefore, Lin Yutang's prose has a different format and a different writing style. Most of the structures are very casual, and there are no traces of ups and downs, color hooks, echoes, etc. They only flow with natural rhythms and exude a rustic atmosphere. This is Lin Yutang's own aura. With true feelings and unique opinions, it constitutes Lin Yutang's "personal style". Lin Yutang's free writing attitude is exactly the opposite of Liang Shiqiu's. Composition should be like flowing clouds and flowing water, with no definite quality at the beginning, always going on what you should do, and always stopping when you have to stop. This is what Su Dongpo said, and Lin Yutang wholeheartedly agrees with it. Liang Shiqiu believed that this was because "the talent is so high that it is beyond the reach of others." It is also said that Xu Zhimo is a writer who calls himself a wild horse and belongs to the category of "cannot stop writing". Although he is talented, his writing is not formal. ⑨ Lin Yutang wanted to write as if he were talking, and Liang Shiqiu wanted to talk as if he were writing. Liang Shiqiu even believed that the conversation should be rigorous, with a theme, a draft, a hierarchy, and a beginning and end. He criticized: "There are not many people who are careful when writing articles, and even fewer who know how to tailor their conversations." It was unbelievable to Lin Yutang that conversations should also be tailored. Therefore, Lin Yutang is a disciple of Benedetto Croce, an expressionist who advocated breaking all shackles, and Liang Shiqiu is a disciple of Irving Babbit, a new humanist. Babbitt talked about "article discipline". No wonder Liang Shiqiu's prose is so sophisticated and well-structured. This is naturally a characteristic of modern prose. But Liang Shiqiu emphasized the rules of composition too much. Yu Dafu quoted a passage from an article written by Liang Shiqiu in "New Moon": "People who write prose these days either overly demand nature or overly neglect art, and often fall into crude ways. No matter what they write, No matter what the topic, the tone of ridicule and scolding have become the rules of prose. There is a lot of emotion in such unbridled words, but the tone is not. " Yu Dafu asked back: "When writing prose, do you have to put on a big dress, a tall hat, and white gloves to read out the words on the Selected Works to write?"

Lin Yutang in He is also very "unbridled" in his use of language. He dares to say "fuck" and is often called a "dog tie". He once said, "Shrews scold the streets and often approach the words of saints." ("Smoke Dust IV", "Universal Wind" Issue 6) It is the use of language that does not avoid vulgarity and does not avoid vulgarity, which makes Lin Yutang's prose closer A chatty tone.

Lin Yutang did what is most difficult for a scholar to do, so he was so affectionate and rejected extremes, Taoism and dogma, making it difficult for ordinary people who memorize books and accept death to be true. He knows what is the reality of existence and what is the useless nonsense of scholars, and his words are fair and clear.

Lin Yutang’s casual prose is not only unique in his thoughts and close to his feelings, but also covers a wide range of topics and is rich in knowledge, ranging from literature, philosophy, religion, and art to smoking, drinking tea, and shopping. It does not cover everything, and the brushstrokes penetrate China and foreign countries, spanning ancient and modern times. When it comes to an article specifically, let go of your hands and feet, connect it up and down, and gather a high-density group of materials and knowledge. Lin Yutang read a lot, learned a lot and memorized it well. He had the academic foundation of a scholar, so he was able to talk and be patient. When he talked, he was always radiant and able to have both sides. His essays about culture are more informative. Lin Yutang's casual prose is rich and thick and can be easily written. The language is simple and unpretentious, with no accumulation or pursuit of new things. Except for those quotations and classical Chinese written for experiments in the 1930s, they are all clean and simple, and have a high degree of colloquialism. As mentioned before, only traditional and ordinary techniques are used in expression, and no "modern" tricks are used. It is easy to enrich the article, but difficult to write it down.

Lin Yutang said: "Most of the articles written by scholars are difficult to understand. Most of them are referring to nouns and quoting scriptures. They are in-depth but fail to explain in a simple way, and they just drop the book bag. This is the result of more than enough knowledge but insufficient knowledge. See the truth and the truth. Once you have attained the purity of heaven and earth, you will naturally be able to explain simple and easy-to-understand principles." At the same time, he also said that when you are familiar with the principles, you often don't need to take the main road, you can walk on the small road, cross the fields, climb the fence, and suddenly arrive at your home to impress your companions. People are surprised. In fact, the chat room is just a winding path. Kindness has "I", carelessness, indifference and simplicity, coupled with the high intellectual and cultural content, transcendent concepts, extraordinary wisdom and relatively tranquil mood, leisurely mood and strong interest in life associated with it. , integrated into the overall style of Lin Yutang's chatty prose. It reflects the common requirements of general chat prose and the alternative functions of literature such as cultivating emotions, entertaining, and enlightening people's minds. It is based on leisure. "Leisure" is a generalization of "talking style", "personal style", etc., and is also the basic aesthetic feature of all casual prose. This feature distinguishes casual prose from the type of fighting, and also from the type that is sentimental and decadent or tends to be passionately lyrical and fantasy. Lin Yutang once believed that "no matter how serious the topic is, it involves the tragedy and turmoil of the motherland, or the destruction of civilization in the torrent of crazy political ideas, causing human beings to lose their freedom, dignity, and even the goal of happiness, or even involving When it comes to important issues of truth and justice, this concept can still be expressed in a casual, leisurely, and friendly manner." This is suspicious. In the face of huge disasters or extreme ugliness, it is impossible for a conscientious writer to maintain a leisurely mood and write in a casual style. Instead, he will only write with anger, rage and righteous denunciation. This is why casual prose and leisurely style were somewhat out of place in China in the 1930s and 1940s, and had to be marginalized.

In fact, Lin Yutang's own casual prose has its own scope of materials. It talks a lot about culture and philosophy of life, and discusses general social issues. It does not involve big crimes. Of course, this type of prose still has its value. It cannot not exist, nor can it become the only one that exists. Modern prose since the "May Fourth Movement" has been influenced from the beginning by British essays (Essay) or, as Yu Dafu said, "the informal, homely chat-like genre that everyone is accustomed to using in British prose." It is also closely related to traditional Chinese prose. Notes and sketches, especially the sketches of the late Ming Dynasty that advocate independent expression of one's spirit and free will, retain many connections, so they naturally show something old yet new (Zhou Zuoren commented), and are very distinctive in genre and style. Under the diverse premise, it is inevitable that a kind of prose written more freely and closer to chatting will appear and mature after the "May 4th" and "May 4th". Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Chen Xiying, Liang Shiqiu, Zhang Ailing, Liang Yuchun and others His prose has a strong chatty flavor.

However, although Lu Xun laughed and scolded and talked casually, he was also sharp and sharp. Chen Xiying's thoughts were not free and easy and his interest was limited; Zhang Ailing and Liang Yuchun were not yet fully educated. Regardless of the so-called "plain talk" or "quick talk", they mostly moved people with their vitality rather than "freedom". ; As mentioned before, Liang Shiqiu's works are more than elegant but insufficiently agile and elegant. Therefore, if their articles are viewed as casual prose, they may not be typical enough, or they may not reach Lin Yutang's realm, nor do they have Lin Yutang's writing consciousness, which includes Lin Yutang's all-round thinking on prose. Lin Yutang and Zhou Zuoren are closer, and their casual prose is truly authentic, mature and has the atmosphere of everyone. "Lin Yutang and Zhou Zuoren are both masters of the gossip school of modern prose."