A ‘partial’ Orientalist

Abstract

Lin Yutang 林语堂 (1895–1976) was a Chinese American writer based in the USA who produced thirty English works interpreting Chinese philosophy to a western audience between 1936 and 1966. Lin’s critics often accuse him of succumbing to colonial power dynamics between China and the west. Famous Chinese Short Stories: Retold by Lin Yutang (FCSS), published by the John Day Company in 1952, is a particularly revealing case in point. FCSS contains twenty tales selected from ancient Chinese culture, edited, and rewritten in English using western storytelling techniques. In response to critiques of Lin’s works including FCSS as being Orientalist, I re-examine the intricate process of Lin’s rewriting to reveal a more complex stance vis-à-vis Orientalism, characterizing his cultural position as that of a ‘partial’ Orientalist. This term implies that Lin recognizes the potential of Chinese tradition to provide an alternative modernity.