Salon.com > Mo Yan

Rushdie: Mo Yan is a “patsy of the regime”

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:21:00 +0000

Nobel Prize laureate Mo Yan -- who has compared censorship to something as necessary as an airport security check and earned scorn from other writers for not being a staunch advocate of freedom of expression -- came under criticism Thursday from Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie, who spent nearly a decade in hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called for his death upon the publication of "The Satanic Verses," expressed frustration on Facebook that Yan would not support fellow writers and free speech activists in calling for the freedom of Liu Xiabo, the 2010 Nobel Peace laureate. More than 130 other Nobel laureates have signed the petition, including Desmond Tutu.

"This really is too bad," Rushdie wrote. "He defends censorship and won't sign the petition asking for the freedom of his fellow Nobelist Liu Xiaobo. Hard to avoid the conclusion that Mo Yan is the Chinese equivalent of the Soviet Russian apparatchik writer Mikhail Sholokhov: a patsy of the régime."

Mo Yan says censorship is necessary

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Nobel Prize laureate Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his cozy relationship with China's Communist Party, has compared censorship to security checks at airports, suggesting it is unpleasant but necessary.

Mo says he does not believe censorship should stand in the way of truth, but that it can be used, or is sometimes even necessary, to stop rumors and defamation.

China's first writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature is in Stockholm, where he is set to receive the prestigious prize next week.

Mo dodged questions about fellow writer and compatriot Liu Xiaobo, who won the Peace Prize in 2010 but remains in prison. Mo has previously said that he hopes Liu will be free soon, but he refused to elaborate Thursday while meeting with journalists in Stockholm.

China scrambles to censor discussion of Mo Yan

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:59:00 +0000

HONG KONG – It didn’t take long for the Chinese government to try to take control of the conversation about Mo Yan.

Days after the 57-year-old novelist thrilled his country by winning the Nobel Prize for literature, China’s central censorship organ issued a directive to media companies instructing them to strictly police online discussion for anti-party chatter or mentions of two other Chinese-born Nobel winners.

China Digital Times has a translation of the leaked directive:

“To all websites nationwide: In light of Mo Yan winning the Nobel prize for literature, monitoring of microblogs, forums, blogs and similar key points must be strengthened. Be firm in removing all comments which disgrace the party and the government, defame cultural work, mention Nobel laureates Liu Xiaobo and Gao Xingjian and associated harmful material. Without exception, block users from posting for ten days if their writing contains malicious details.”

Who is Mo Yan, anyway?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 23:00:00 +0000

WHEN THE NOBEL PRIZE in Literature is awarded, commentators often wonder if it was given to recognize the quality of the author's writing or for other reasons: jockeying within the committee, a desire to acknowledge a particular genre or style’s importance, the wish to make a political statement — or all of the above.

These questions will doubtless be raised about Mo Yan, the latest literary Laureate, but issues specific to China will also come up, such as how he compares to previous winners with ties to that country, like Pearl Buck, who wrote stories set there, and Gao Xingjian, the Chinese writer who won the prize after leaving his country to live and write in France.

Who is Mo Yan?

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:54:00 +0000

Before today, most Americans had never heard of Guan Moye, a 57-year-old Chinese national who writes under the pseudonym Mo Yan (which means "do not speak"). But according to Time magazine, he is "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers." Today, Mo was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for literature for writing novels "with hallucinatory realism" that "merges folk tales, history and the contemporary." He became the first Chinese national to receive a Nobel Prize for literature:

John Updike's 2005 description of two Chinese writers, including Mo Yan, gives some (now prophetic) insight into why most of us have never head of Mo before:

In praise of Nobel obscurity

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Like a lot of people, I greeted today's news that Chinese writer Mo Yan has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature with the familiar feeling that the Swedish Academy had me on the back foot. I have never read a word the man has written. I comforted myself with the thin reassurance that at least I'd heard of him — and I'd even seen "Red Sorghum," a film based on one of his best-known novels!

Unlike a substantial percentage of the back-foot club, however, I've got no problem with the Academy's choice, or its history of selecting purportedly "obscure" recipients for the prize. From the handful of articles and reviews I've read in my frantic scramble to get caught up, Mo Yan seems to write the kind of novels I enjoy (and I really did love "Red Sorghum"). "Hallucinatory realism"? "A world of magic, sexual exploitation, ignorance and senseless violence"? Individual stories told against a backdrop of political and social turmoil? Sign me up.

Chinese writer Mo Yan wins Nobel Prize for literature

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:34:00 +0000

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Chinese writer Mo Yan has been named the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.

The Swedish Academy, which selects the winners of the prestigious award, in Thursday praised Mo's "hallucinatory realism," saying it "merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

European authors had won four of the past five awards, with last year's prize going to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer.

As with the other Nobel Prizes, the prize is worth 8 million kronor, or about $1.2 million.