Wordless Mo Yan Sensation: Mobel in China

Abstract

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature went to Mo Yan, triggering both media euphoria and intellectual debates back in China. Strangely, both the euphoria and the debate are set in a “wordless” state, not unlike the “hollowed out” status of China's rising in terms of ideas and culture. Mo Yan's works surely have their “down-to-earth” and energetic qualities. However, the very core of his pieces can be seen as a continuation of the literary and intellectual trends of the 1980s, which fits right in the Western perception of China. The debate over Mo Yan's becoming a Nobel laureate is, in a way, the very representation of the most pressing issues regarding contemporary Chinese history and reality. In fact, to a large extent, literature and ideas of contemporary China have already superseded Mo Yan.

Keywords:

• Mo Yan; 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature; rural narrative; magic realism

Notes

¹See: http://news.qq.com/a/20091024/001126.htm; http://www.chinawriter.com.cn/wxpl/2009/2009-11-09/78966.html.

²Interestingly, since the 1990s, almost all major Chinese writers have published works more or less involved with contemporary history. To a certain extent, this is a large-scale collective effort to retell the contemporary history of China. Among these writers, Mo Yan, with his considerable amount of works covering a wide range of issues, almost formed a complete set of Chinese contemporary history. However, in terms of historical perspectives and values, contemporary Chinese writers, who have been unanimously focusing on the repetitive deconstruction of “official history,” have yet to pose serious new challenges. This has been a rather “fixed opinion” in the debate of Chinese intellectuals since the 1980s.

³See: http://book.ifeng.com/ebook/moyan/.

⁴See: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2012/press.html.

⁵See: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-10/12/c_113352171.htm.

⁶See: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-10/12/c_113352171.htm.

⁷See: http://book.qq.com/a/20121012/000118.htm.

⁸See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqcj/xfly/2012-10-12/content_7220874.html.

⁹This criticism is not anything new; likewise, the defending voices have also been around for a long time. Some critics believe Mo Yan's language to be something of a “joyful” vernacular truly rooted in folk culture, a linguistic miracle stemming from the land of China and the freshest fruit from 100 years of practice in modern narrative. See Zhang Ning (2012).

¹⁰See: http://book.sina.com.cn/news/a/2005-05-30/1213185300.shtml.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

He Jixian

Translated by Li Jiajie