MCLC: Mo Yan, party membership, and his works

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Sheldon Lu <shlu at ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Mo Yan, party membership, and his works
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Mo Yan: Individual, Party Membership, and His Works

Like many of us, I have been trying to understand more about Mo Yan’s life
and works recently.  From what I have gathered, it appears his novels and
shorts closely reflect his personal experiences.
 

This is what I noticed from reading things and watching his interviews.
He said he was not a handsome boy and his grandparents did not like him.
His childhood was characterized by two things: loneliness and hunger (the
effect of the Great Leap Forward in Shandong Province and practically
everywhere in China).   He was looking for food all the time and ate even
charcoal. (The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature includes a
piece by him: “Iron Child.”  It describes this experience, but his
“magical realist” style can twist and turn a sad event into an uplifting
celebration of the human spirit in adverse circumstances.
 

He wanted to leave the countryside 农村, and the way to do it was to join
the People’s Liberation Army.  He tried three times/three years, and
finally made it at the age of 21.  He was promoted to the rank of platoon
leader 排级干部 while in the army.  He and his wife had had a daughter, but
he 
wanted to have a SON. His wife was pregnant with a son. This sort of thing
was not allowed in the Army.  His wife must undergo an abortion.  As he
witnessed, even if people at the higher rank of lianzhan 连级干部 in the
Army 
were dismissed from the Army and sent back to their villages if they
violated the policy of planned parenthood.  It was a heartbreaking
dilemma.  Eventually, his wife had an abortion.  That was a bad choice but
only “choice.”  His original purpose was to leave the countryside and that
was his life goal at the moment.  If he violated the policy, he would be
sent back to where he started in the first place. Looking back at the
past, he said he was a coward.  But he also said he was not sure if he
could handle this situation better if it were to happen again today.
 

His novel Frog 蛙 is about forced abortion.  I recommend people read it
before they pass judgment about whether Mo Yan is pro-government and
anti-government. This novel is almost a reflection of Mo’s personal
tragedy.  What happened in the novel is even worse: the woman died of
forced abortion. But Mo Yan also lets the reader hear the voice and
reasoning of the fervent supporters of the one-child policy. If there were
not such a policy, China would have several hundred million more people
today―and what is the consequence of that for China and the world? It
seems that there is a certain amount of “multi-voicedness” in Mo’s novels.
 

Mo Yan talked about Mao’s Yan’an Talks.  He discussed the document’s
historical relevance as well as its current limitation.  He pointed out
that his generation of writers were trying very hard to go beyond the
shackles of Yan’an Talks.  Mao’s Talks emphasizes the class character of
literature.  Literature belongs to certain social classes.  But Mo and his
generation write about universal human experiences regardless class.  I
feel this is very clear if we compare his stories and the stories written
in the Mao era. This is taken for granted now, but Mo and his generation
got the job done and made the transition.
 

Mo Yan’s party membership. What is the number of Chinese Communist Party
membership now? 80 million? What kind of people are they? If Mo Yan did
not join the Communist Party, does that mean he would be necessarily a
better human being and writer? Did he have a choice? It is funny that many
Western countries did not check Chinese tourists’ party membership and
eagerly lure them to spend money.
            

It is hard to say which Chinese author deserves a major award more than
other writers.  But it is clear that Mo Yan is an all-too-human person. He
comes from a disadvantaged social background and he wants the best for
himself, his career, and his family. Like everyone else in China, he has
to deal with all kinds of pressures, make compromises, and make certain
decisions.  And finally, people should read his novels and stories first
before passing a judgment. The Nobel Prize is not about Distinguished
Public Service; it is a Literature Award.

 
Sorry for being long-winded.
 
Sheldon Lu