Selected Bilingual Essays of Lin Yutang林語堂雙語文選

The author of My Country and My People, The Importance of Living, and The Wisdom of China and India, Lin Yutang's works were praised by The New York Times as "wise, humorous and altogether charming." One of the most significant Chinese writers of the twentieth century, it was his bilingual essays in Chinese and English that established his reputation amongst his respective readerships. However, what remains largely ignored is the fact that in these bilingual pairs of essays Lin did not simply present the same text in two languages, but rather tailored the tone, writing style and even content of each version for its intended audiences. A variety of these witty and insightful essay pairs have been selected for this volume, presenting some of Lin Yutang's finest works to a new generation of readers.

20世紀三十年代，林語堂以英文著作《吾國與吾民》、《生活的藝術》、《中國印度之智慧》揚名世界，《紐約時報》稱他的作品「智性、幽默、充滿魅力」。林語堂畢生從事雙語寫作，穿梭於中西文化之間，卻很少有人將他的雙語作品對照來看。本文集收錄了二十五對林氏寫於 1930–1936年間的雙語散文，這些作品並非簡單的翻譯，而是針對不同讀者和語境的再創作。對照來看，林氏作品中一貫的生動、智慧、洞察、黑色幽默，自成景觀。

Qian Suoqiao is an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong.

錢鎖橋為香港城市大學助理教授。