Translation and war Lin Yutang’s ‘international contact’ vs. the United States’ isolationism

This chapter discusses Lin Yutang's activities of translation in the Second World War, and his intervention in Sino-American relations. It examines Lin's efforts to denounce the United States's isolationism as a policy that drives the country to divorce itself from a sense of common humanity and from a commitment to the Allies’ collective purpose. This chapter investigates for the first time how Lin endeavours to urge the United States to prioritise the Allies’ common interests over its own national interests. Drawing on extensive archival primary writings from The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, this chapter aims to demonstrate Lin's undertaking to facilitate a constructive and meaningful dialogue among Allied members and to make their status recognised as equals in the Allies, thereby achieving the effects of zhongyong.