MCLC: Mo Yan short speech

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Nick Stember <nick.stember at gmail.com>
Subject: Mo Yan short speech
***********************************************************

I thought the list might appreciate this short speech by Mo Yan.

Best,

Nick Stember

========================================================

Source: http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2013/01-24/4515448.shtml
Via: 
http://paper-republic.org/links/note-to-translator-mo-yan-will-not-be-writi
ng-for-you/

Date accessed: 2/28/2013

Mo Yan: Good Literature Should Let Readers Discover Themselves

As a form of art, music is very abstract. In the world of music [for those
who] want to be mournful, there is mournful [music]. [For those who] want
to be uplifted, there is uplifting [music]. [For those who] want to be
stirred, there is stirring [music]. Music doesn’t need to be translated.
Besides, there is this incredible elasticity [to music], [because]
numerous interpretations can be given: a happy person can hear notes which
make him happy [while] even if you have a sad person listen to cheerful
and light-hearted melody [he] will hear the tears in it. When listened to
by people of different ages, different levels of educational and personal
attainment, in different stages of life, the same piece of music will give
[these people] a completely different feeling.

Literature should possess this kind of quality.

Good literature shouldn’t be limpid [to the point of being] translucent.
[It] shouldn’t only have a [single] right answer. Good literature should
have an abundance, a complexity, even a [certain] fuzziness. It should let
every reader see themselves, ‘read’ themselves into the story. It should
also let readers [receive] a different feeling from reading the same book
following the passage of time, [in the light of new] experiences and
changes in the other various facets [of life]. I hope [the message of] my
own novels is not ‘as plain as the nose on your face.’ [It is my] hope to
write the most supple most formless novels [that I can]. In the past this
was the style that I was striving for—although I can’t say that I’ve been
entirely successful at present.

Actually, becoming [recognized as] a man of integrity is the same: If no
one debates and criticizes them, the value of this person is discounted
[by his peers]. Only when a person has the special quality of extreme
complexity are they ‘censured by the thousand gentlemen’ [and universally
condemned], only then are they are commented on by a great many people,
because [the nature of] this person is very difficult to determine,
because this person has an [inner] richness when compared to others. I am
a person with an [inner] richness when compared to others, so I make a
very good ‘copy book’ [to trace calligraphy from]—people can read and
understand me according to their own way of thinking. From this I have
been able to see countless profiles of myself that I was unable to see on
my own.

There is one more question which is worth equal consideration.

At present, more and more Chinese novels are being translated into foreign
languages and disseminated far and wide. This, however, touches upon a
problem—the point of departure for an author: Who are writers writing for,
really? [Are they] writing for themselves, or [are they] writing for
[their] readers? If they are writing for their readers, are they writing
for Chinese readers or for foreign readers? [In order for] a novel to be
translated into a foreign language there must be a translator. [In this
case] can’t we say the writer is writing for his translator?

This trend of writing for one’s translator is absolutely unsupportable.
Notwithstanding the fact that literature must pass through a translator’s
translation to reach the world, [that it] must undergo their creative
efforts, the personal artistic style of an author who thinks of their
translator when they are writing is bound to be cheapened, and the
eloquence and impenetrability of their work is bound to be simplified for
the ease of translation. Therefore, when a writer is writing, they can
think of whomever they so choose, but whatever happens they  shouldn’t
think of the translator; they can’t forget anyone, but they must forget
the translator. It is only when it is thus that [an author] can write
novels with his own style, with a Chinese style.

And as far as the Nobel Prize goes, I don’t want to blow things out of
proportion. Before this it didn’t matter if I was in Gaomi [Township], or
in Beijing, or Sweden, in my mind I have been calm, even a little
embarrassed. Actually, in the whole world and in China there are a great
many extraordinary writers who are qualified, even more qualified [than I
am] to receive this award and the only reason they haven’t received the
award is that their time has come yet. I also hope that in the future, I
hope that in the not so distant future, Chinese authors can appear in
Sweden again and walk up to the stage for the Nobel Prize again [as well].

-  Mo Yan 1/24/13

 (>From an impromptu speech at ceremony to accept a professorship at
Beijing Normal University, text organized by Zhao E’nuo and Liu Dai,
edited by Huan)