Yan Mo(I)
- Writer
Mo Yan (a pseudonym for Guan Moye) was born in 1955 and grew up in
Gaomi in Shandong province in north-eastern China. His parents were
farmers. As a twelve-year-old during the Cultural Revolution he left
school to work, first in agriculture, later in a factory. In 1976 he
joined the People's Liberation Army and during this time began to study
literature and write. His first short story was published in a literary
journal in 1981. His breakthrough came a few years later with the
novella Touming de hong luobo (1986, published in French as Le radis de
cristal 1993).
In his writing Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings
in the province of his birth. This is apparent in his novel Hong
gaoliang jiazu (1987, in English Red Sorghum 1993). The book consists
of five stories that unfold and interweave in Gaomi in several
turbulent decades in the 20th century, with depictions of bandit
culture, the Japanese occupation and the harsh conditions endured by
poor farm workers. Red Sorghum was successfully filmed in 1987,
directed by Zhang Yimou. The novel Tiantang suantai zhi ge (1988, in
English The Garlic Ballads 1995) and his satirical Jiuguo (1992, in
English The Republic of Wine 2000) have been judged subversive because
of their sharp criticism of contemporary Chinese society.
Fengru feitun (1996, in English Big Breasts and Wide Hips 2004) is a
broad historical fresco portraying 20th-century China through the
microcosm of a single family. The novel Shengsi pilao (2006, in English
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out 2008) uses black humour to describe
everyday life and the violent transmogrifications in the young People's
Republic, while Tanxiangxing (2004, to be published in English as
Sandalwood Death 2013) is a story of human cruelty in the crumbling
Empire. Mo Yan's latest novel Wa (2009, in French Grenouilles 2011)
illuminates the consequences of China's imposition of a single-child
policy.
Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social
perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity
of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel García
Márquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese
literature and in oral tradition. In addition to his novels, Mo Yan has
published many short stories and essays on various topics, and despite
his social criticism is seen in his homeland as one of the foremost
contemporary authors.
The 9th MAODUN Literature Prize in 2011
Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 as "who with hallucinatory
realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary".
Gaomi in Shandong province in north-eastern China. His parents were
farmers. As a twelve-year-old during the Cultural Revolution he left
school to work, first in agriculture, later in a factory. In 1976 he
joined the People's Liberation Army and during this time began to study
literature and write. His first short story was published in a literary
journal in 1981. His breakthrough came a few years later with the
novella Touming de hong luobo (1986, published in French as Le radis de
cristal 1993).
In his writing Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings
in the province of his birth. This is apparent in his novel Hong
gaoliang jiazu (1987, in English Red Sorghum 1993). The book consists
of five stories that unfold and interweave in Gaomi in several
turbulent decades in the 20th century, with depictions of bandit
culture, the Japanese occupation and the harsh conditions endured by
poor farm workers. Red Sorghum was successfully filmed in 1987,
directed by Zhang Yimou. The novel Tiantang suantai zhi ge (1988, in
English The Garlic Ballads 1995) and his satirical Jiuguo (1992, in
English The Republic of Wine 2000) have been judged subversive because
of their sharp criticism of contemporary Chinese society.
Fengru feitun (1996, in English Big Breasts and Wide Hips 2004) is a
broad historical fresco portraying 20th-century China through the
microcosm of a single family. The novel Shengsi pilao (2006, in English
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out 2008) uses black humour to describe
everyday life and the violent transmogrifications in the young People's
Republic, while Tanxiangxing (2004, to be published in English as
Sandalwood Death 2013) is a story of human cruelty in the crumbling
Empire. Mo Yan's latest novel Wa (2009, in French Grenouilles 2011)
illuminates the consequences of China's imposition of a single-child
policy.
Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social
perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity
of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel García
Márquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese
literature and in oral tradition. In addition to his novels, Mo Yan has
published many short stories and essays on various topics, and despite
his social criticism is seen in his homeland as one of the foremost
contemporary authors.
The 9th MAODUN Literature Prize in 2011
Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 as "who with hallucinatory
realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary".