SOURCE: Joad, C. E. M. “The East Admonishes the West.” Spectator 161, no. 5,741 (8 July 1938): 69.

In the following review, Joad finds Lin to be a spokesman of a dying culture inThe Importance of Living.

Lin Yutang's previous book, My Country and My People, was a study of the Chinese character and of the attitude to life in which it finds expression. The Importance of Living is a study of Western civilisation judged by the standards and in relation to the values established by the East. The judgement is not favourable. Broadly, it is to the effect that Western civilisation entails a continuous and gigantic sacrifice of ends to means. Having unprecedented command of the means to enjoyment, the Westerner does not know how to enjoy himself, and gives the impression of an athlete whose whole life is a training for a race which is never run.

In a series...