The main content of Su Dongpo's Biography is Su Shi's growing experience before he became an official.

1. Brief introduction of Su Dongpo's Biography:

Su Dongpo's Biography shows Su Dongpo's life course from the birth to death, from family life to social activities. The book is divided into four volumes, namely, childhood and youth, prime of life, old age and exile years.

each volume is divided into several chapters, and * * * is divided into 28 chapters. The first and second volumes mainly describe the experience of first entering politics and literature, and the struggle between Wang Anshi's political reform and Sima Guang's opposition to political reform takes up a lot of space, while "childhood and youth" is actually only one chapter.

2. Creation background of Su Dongpo's Biography:

When the author's family went to the United States, they brought some rare ancient books about and written by Su Dongpo in addition to some basic Chinese reference books. At that time, the author hoped to write a book about Su Dongpo. The author felt that a noble scholar like Su Dongpo had rich spiritual food with his works on the bookshelf.

Theme and artistic features of Su Dongpo's Biography:

1. Theme:

The theme of Su Dongpo's Biography is to pay attention to describing the relationship between Su Dongpo and the political ups and downs of the times. Lin Yutang believes that the conflict between Su Dongpo and Wang Anshi's political reform "decided his life experience and the fate of the Song Dynasty". Therefore, he tried his best to describe Wang Anshi's political reform and Su Dongpo's attitude towards it.

2. Artistic features:

The Biography of Su Dongpo is basically loyal to historical facts, and it uses a variety of brushwork to praise and express Su Dongpo. The lines between the lines are filled with the author's love for Su Dongpo. In order to strengthen the description of characters, Lin Yutang made a new attempt and exploration in the biography of Su Dongpo.

There are many subjective feelings of Lin Yutang in this biography, which makes Su Dongpo an idealized figure of Lin Yutang. The book uses a lot of historical knowledge, Confucianism, Taoism, poetry, art and calligraphy appreciation knowledge, as well as geographical scenery knowledge (such as the wonders of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the beauty of Hangzhou landscape and other places with their own characteristics).