Author with Party tie dismisses critics
Source: Agencies |
October 13, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE author Mo Yan yesterday defended his Nobel prize from some critics who accused him of being a "Communist stooge."
Speaking after his Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, Mo dismissed his detractors, saying they probably had not read his books.
"Some say that because I have a close relationship with the Communist Party, I shouldn't have won the prize. I think this is unconvincing," said Mo in his hometown of Gaomi, where many of his dozens of works have been set. He called his award "a literature victory, not a political victory."
But Mo also backed remarks of New China's founder Mao Zedong who wrote that Chinese art must serve the Party. "I think some of Mao's remarks on art were reasonable," he said.
Mo is more likely to keep his head down and avoid politics, his translator said yesterday.
The 57-year-old Chinese author has achieved his success by working within a system with distinct boundaries, not ignoring them, said Howard Goldblatt, who has translated several of Mo's works into English, including the acclaimed "Red Sorghum."
The book was later the basis for a film directed by Zhang Yimou.
"He wants to continue to write, and to continue to write the kinds of things he needs and wants to write, he has to live within certain parameters," Goldblatt said.
Mo is the first Chinese national to win the prize, which comes with a financial reward of US$1.2 million.
Some critics have called the decision odd, and that Mo's works were not artistically original, emulating Latin American authors. That is neither accurate nor fair, though, said Goldblatt, who noted that Mo started writing his trademark fantastical novels before reading Latin American authors, including Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.
"If he's influenced by anything, he's influenced by Chinese storyteller traditions, by the mindset and the concept of place by Faulkner," he said, referring to US writer William Faulkner.
Mo is a Communist Party member who grew up in a small town and served in the military, which Goldblatt said colored his world view. But he was not very different, in that respect, to other authors in China.
The prolific Mo is known for exploring China's tumultuous 20th century with a cynical wit in dozens of works. He is best known abroad for his 1987 novella "Red Sorghum," set amid the brutal violence of the countryside during the 1920s and 30s.
Speaking after his Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, Mo dismissed his detractors, saying they probably had not read his books.
"Some say that because I have a close relationship with the Communist Party, I shouldn't have won the prize. I think this is unconvincing," said Mo in his hometown of Gaomi, where many of his dozens of works have been set. He called his award "a literature victory, not a political victory."
But Mo also backed remarks of New China's founder Mao Zedong who wrote that Chinese art must serve the Party. "I think some of Mao's remarks on art were reasonable," he said.
Mo is more likely to keep his head down and avoid politics, his translator said yesterday.
The 57-year-old Chinese author has achieved his success by working within a system with distinct boundaries, not ignoring them, said Howard Goldblatt, who has translated several of Mo's works into English, including the acclaimed "Red Sorghum."
The book was later the basis for a film directed by Zhang Yimou.
"He wants to continue to write, and to continue to write the kinds of things he needs and wants to write, he has to live within certain parameters," Goldblatt said.
Mo is the first Chinese national to win the prize, which comes with a financial reward of US$1.2 million.
Some critics have called the decision odd, and that Mo's works were not artistically original, emulating Latin American authors. That is neither accurate nor fair, though, said Goldblatt, who noted that Mo started writing his trademark fantastical novels before reading Latin American authors, including Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.
"If he's influenced by anything, he's influenced by Chinese storyteller traditions, by the mindset and the concept of place by Faulkner," he said, referring to US writer William Faulkner.
Mo is a Communist Party member who grew up in a small town and served in the military, which Goldblatt said colored his world view. But he was not very different, in that respect, to other authors in China.
The prolific Mo is known for exploring China's tumultuous 20th century with a cynical wit in dozens of works. He is best known abroad for his 1987 novella "Red Sorghum," set amid the brutal violence of the countryside during the 1920s and 30s.
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