{"id":1311,"date":"2012-10-22T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T02:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2012-10-18T11:15:19","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T03:15:19","slug":"a-westerners-reflection-on-mo-yan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1311","title":{"rendered":"A Westerner\u2019s Reflection on Mo Yan"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the “International Conference on Chinese Literature in Global Contexts” at Beijing Normal University \u5317\u5e08\u5927, World Literature Today<\/em><\/a> editor Robert Con Davis-Undiano read his “Westerner’s Reflection on Mo Yan<\/a> [\u83ab\u8a00].” With Mo Yan winning the Nobel, WLT has posted it online. He writes,<\/p>\n

Given Mo Yan\u2019s stature and productivity, I propose that we view him as a possible test case to gauge the depth and quality of Western engagement with Chinese literature. \u00a0He is only one writer, but Western critics have responded strongly to his work, and how critics and readers react to a major writer is always revealing … I will argue that the Western active appreciation of Mo Yan signals a Western openness to Chinese literature and a deepening engagement with Chinese culture.<\/p>\n

I will also argue that Mo Yan\u2019s Red Sorghum <\/em>(1986) is especially valuable for probing the Western response to his work and Chinese literature, owing to the significance of this novel in his production overall, the book\u2019s grand scope, and the Western attention that the film Red Sorghum <\/em>has already brought to the novel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole piece here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the “International Conference on Chinese Literature in Global Contexts” at Beijing Normal University \u5317\u5e08\u5927, World Literature Today editor Robert Con Davis-Undiano read his “Westerner’s Reflection on Mo Yan [\u83ab\u8a00].” With Mo Yan winning the Nobel, WLT has posted it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[189,776],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-l9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1501,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1501","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":0},"title":"Still More Mo Yan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At ChinaFile Shelley Wing Chan discusses her enthusiasm over Mo Yan, which led to her book A Subversive Voice in China: The Fictional World of Mo Yan. Rebecca Liao calls Mo Yan \"Passionately Individual, Likely to Remain Friendless,\" while Xiaolu Guo \u90ed\u5c0f\u6ad3 answers the question, \"Are all Chinese novelists 'state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.csmonitor.com\/var\/ezflow_site\/storage\/images\/media\/content\/2012\/1012-moyan\/14013219-1-eng-US\/1012-moyan_full_600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.csmonitor.com\/var\/ezflow_site\/storage\/images\/media\/content\/2012\/1012-moyan\/14013219-1-eng-US\/1012-moyan_full_600.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.csmonitor.com\/var\/ezflow_site\/storage\/images\/media\/content\/2012\/1012-moyan\/14013219-1-eng-US\/1012-moyan_full_600.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1316,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1316","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":1},"title":"Mo Yan and the World: Another Roundup","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mo Yan \u83ab\u8a00, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature, continues to be a topic of conversation. Following yesterday's posting of \"A Westerner\u2019s Reflection on Mo Yan,\" here are three other links to the relationship between Mo Yan--and by extension, Chinese literature, if not China--and the world. First, Mo's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mo Yan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2012\/10\/11\/1349962134461\/Mo-Yan-010.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1687,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1687","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":2},"title":"Ever Mo Yan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Spiegel Online interviews Mo Yan, who says \"I am guilty.\" The Guardian writes that \"Mo Yan dismisses 'envious' Nobel critics.\" Mo Yan writes that \"Good Literature Should Let Readers Discover Themselves\" One \"Mo reason for culture promotion\" The Complete Review notices Mo Yan has more than one agent with \"full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn2.spiegel.de\/images\/image-466055-galleryV9-ntfn.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1428,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1428","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":3},"title":"More Mo Yan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The overlapping world of literary critics and cultural commentators is still arguing about Mo Yan \u83ab\u8a00 and his Nobel Prize. Nobel Literature Laureate from 2009, Romanian-raised Herta M\u00fcller calls Mo Yan\u2019s win \u201ca catastrophe\u201d because he \u201ccelebrates censorship.\u201d And Anna Sun of the Kenyon Review calls Mo Yan's writing \"diseased\";\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Anna Sun\"","block_context":{"text":"Anna Sun","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?tag=anna-sun"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.granta.com\/dyn\/1334837960936.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1281,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1281","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":4},"title":"Mo Yan wins 2012 Nobel Prize","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mo Yan \u83ab\u8a00 has won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature--a victory for those who support global pluralism in literature prizes, for those who believe in the legacy of Faulkner and Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez in contemporary international fiction, and for those who believe in giving a Nobel to a Chinese writer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smearedtype.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/MoYan.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2036,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2036","url_meta":{"origin":1311,"position":5},"title":"Even more Mo Yan","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"An Epic Tale of Comic Realism\": a reader's words on Life & Death are Wearing Me Out. Peter Tieryas Liu on Sandalwood Death: The best of Chinese literature doesn\u2019t just give insight into the Chinese condition, but that of all humanity. Mo Yan\u2019s specialty is the uniquely local spectrum through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Translators need to strike a balance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/usa.chinadaily.com.cn\/epaper\/attachement\/jpg\/site1\/20130820\/f04da2db1122137cfa5537.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}