MCLC: Mo Yan and the Nobel lit prize (9,10,11,12)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: Mo Yan and the Nobel lit prize (9)
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Kirk wrote: "An old-fashioned idea, I know, but isn't it Mo Yan's
linguistic style that makes reading him so pleasurable?"

I've said the same about Gao Xingjian for a while now, especially "Soul
Mountain".

Martin

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From: Michael Day <mday at nu.edu>
Subject: Mo Yan wins the Nobel lit prize (10)

I'm with you, Kirk.

The problem is, as I peruse the chatter on the Chinese Internet (I've
little time to see or care about what's been appearing in English yet)...
in his most recent interviews since receiving the Prize, Mo has been
feeding this particular fire by making more overtly political comments in
3-4 days than he has in his entire public life to-date. Are we seeing the
"transformation" of Mo Yan from private writer to public intellectual? Has
winning this Prize and all that comes with it, including official acclaim,
emboldened this man to become something more, something only dreamt of in
his most private dreams? It is interesting to observe, and far too early
to make some of the reductionist, if not out-right absurd, piggy-backing
statements and public displays of whatever that seem to be going at the
moment in Chinese and English. Mo Yan is the story... I think a little
more listening/watching/reading is required of most, if not all those who
wish to offer any insight etc or pretend to the status of "intellectual"
(although the meaning of that word is highly debatable as well, of course).

That's my 2 cents... for the moment... and that's all it is worth, of
course.

Enjoy the diatribes and excesses, all. An interesting mirror for all, I
should think. Should I prepare for slings and arrows now? :)

Michael M. Day

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From: yomi braester <yomi at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Mo Yan and the Nobel lit prize (11)

In response to Kirk's suggestion, here's one way to start the conversation
on Mo Yan's literary merits:

A colleague was asked by an English professor who does not read Chinese
what novel of Mo Yan to read first. And if any Chinese lit professor
hasn't done so yet, now every one will include at least one piece by Mo
Yan in their surveys. Given that there are excellent translations of many
of his works, which do we start with?

My two cents: I'm still amazed by _Red Sorghum_. It is a difficult piece
in many ways, including the ambiguous narrator and the masterful yet
horrifying depiction of the dog pack. But I like the novel precisely for
these reasons. In addition, it changed Chinese views of how literature
could be written, arguably more than any other experimental work in the
mid-1980s. Another pedagogical advantage is that a comparison with the
film will necessarily bring out the very different merits of each version
and each genre.

Yomi Braester, University of Washington

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From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Mo Yan and the Nobel lit prize (12)

Here's a link to a PBS Newshour interview with Charles Laughlin and Xiao
Qiang on Mo Yan winning the Nobel prize:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec12/nobel2_10-11.html

Kirk