Re: China’s Mo Yan Wins Nobel Literature Prize

[Bekah]

On Oct 11, 2012, at 7:55 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/chinese-fiction-writer-mo-yan-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature/2012/10/11/ca4795a2-13a0-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html
> 
> The WP article convincingly connects his writing to GGM's magic
> realism.  The only (tenuouis) WF connection I can surmise is his
> confronting prevalent social pressures of China.
> 
> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 9:28 AM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>> It's not the most tenuous pairing of names I've ever encountered. They're both renowned for their fragmentary narratives.


The only book I can really think to MAYBE compare Mo Yan's work to is Soul Mountain  by Gao Xingjian which I read maybe 10 years ago.    Xingjing  is  a Chinese emigre, not a citizen and won the Nobel in 2000.   (I think he lives in France or Canada.)  Soul Mountain is a mix of folk-tale type stories and realism.  More like Native American creation tales so although it's definitely fantastical,   I wouldn't really compare it too closely to GGM.  And I can't really compare it to WF either  - wouldn't even know how to start that.   Soul Mountain was a man's quest for a mystical mountain but he backpacked through many areas listening to many stories.  Much of it is told in 2nd person.   It's very,  very good book.   

So - because of that background,   I can see a story of a Chinese family saga coupled  with a heavy amount of fantastical realism (animals talking)  as possibly having some areas of comparison to both WF and GGM.   The allusions may not be well known in Western lit.  

I do look forward to reading at least a bit of Mo Yan's work (although I am NOT fond of talking animals).  From what I've read,  Mo is not a pure party-liner.  He's had his share of criticism in China and some of his books are critical of Chinese society.     I've got the Kindle sample of The Garlic Ballads -  might like it -  :-)

Bekah