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Mo Yan

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莫言
Mo Yan
Mo Yan in 2008
Mo Yan in 2008
BornGuǎn Móyè (管谟业)
(1955-02-17) February 17, 1955 (age 69)
Gaomi, Shandong, China
Pen nameMo Yan
OccupationNovelist, teacher
LanguageChinese
NationalityChina Chinese
Period1981 – present
Notable worksRed Sorghum, The Republic of Wine, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Notable awardsNobel Prize in Literature 2012

Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè), known by the pen name Mo Yan (Chinese: 莫言; pinyin: Mò Yán) (born February 17, 1955), is a Chinese author, described as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers".[1] He is known in the West for two of his novels which were the basis of the film Red Sorghum. He has been referred to as the Chinese answer to Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012[2] as an author "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary".[3]

Personal life

Mo Yan was born in the northeast Gaomi township in Shandong province to a family of farmers. He left school during the Cultural Revolution to work in a factory that produced oil. He joined the People's Liberation Army at age twenty, and began writing while he was still a soldier, in 1981. Three years later, he was given a teaching position at the Department of Literature in the Army's Cultural Academy. In 2012, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Pen name

"Mo Yan", meaning "don't speak" in Chinese, is a pen name. His given name is Guan Moye. In a public speech delivered at the Open University of Hong Kong, he said that the name was chosen when he wrote his first novel. Because he was well known to be frank in his speech, which was not welcomed in mainland China, he chose the name to remind himself not to speak too much.

Critique

The Chinese writer Ma Jian has deplored the lack of solidarity and commitment of Mo Yan vis-a-vis other Chinese writers and intellectuals who were punished and/or detained despite the freedom of expression recognized by the Constitution.[clarification needed][citation needed]

Writing style

Mo Yan's works are predominantly social commentary, and he is strongly influenced by the political critique of Lu Xun and the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez. Using dazzling, complex, and often graphically violent images, Mo Yan draws readers into the disturbing yet beautiful, kaleidoscopic universes of his stories. He sets many of his stories near his hometown, Northeast Gaomi Township in Shandong province.

Extremely prolific, Mo Yan wrote his latest novel, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in only 43 days. He composed the more than 500,000 characters contained in the original manuscript on traditional Chinese paper using only ink and a writing brush.

Works

Mo Yan has published dozens of short stories and novels in Chinese. His first novel was Falling Rain on a Spring Night, published in 1981. Several of his novels have been translated into English by Howard Goldblatt, professor of East Asian languages and literatures at the University of Notre Dame.

Works

Other published works include White Dog Swing, Man and Beast, Soaring, Iron Child, The Cure, Love Story, Shen Garden and Abandoned Child.

Awards

Adaptations

Several of Mo Yan's works have been adapted for film:

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Morrison, Donald (2005-02-14), "Holding Up Half The Sky", TIME.
  2. ^ http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/nobelpristagaren-i-litteratur-presenteras
  3. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 Mo Yan". Nobel Media AD. 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2012-10-11.

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