Mao Dun Literature Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 8 (2011) Winner
Liu Zhenyun
リウ・ジェンユン
Liu Zhenyun
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1958-05-01 （Yanjin County, Henan, China）
- Nationality
- China
- Languages
- Chinese
- Residence History
- Yanjin County, Henan (birthplace) → Beijing (studied / residence)
Career
- Occupations
- writer, novelist, screenwriter, journalist
- Active Years
- 1980-
- Influenced By
- Upbringing in Yanjin, Henan and memories of the 1942 famine
- Influenced
- Younger contemporary Chinese writers and filmmakers adapting social-realist narratives
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peking University | — | — | — | — | China |
Peking University
Country:
China
Admitted after achieving top score in Henan province on national college entrance exam
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Mao Dun Literature Prize | Someone to Talk To (One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences) | — | Mao Dun Literature Prize committee | winner |
Mao Dun Literature Prize
2011
Work:
Someone to Talk To (One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences)
Organization:
Mao Dun Literature Prize committee
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Someone to Talk To (One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences)
2009 novelA sprawling novel centering on urban and hometown lives, exploring personal loneliness and the absence of meaningful communication, mixing social criticism with dark humor.
lonelinesscommunicationsocial criticismhometown
Translations
- English translation: Duke University Press (Someone to Talk To)
I Did Not Kill My Husband (I Am Not Madame Bovary)
2012 novelFollows a woman's fight for reputation and divorce rights, exposing local bureaucracy and judicial issues; sharply satirical and adapted into a film in collaboration with director Feng Xiaogang.
ordinary people's rightsbureaucracyjustice and revenge
Adaptations
- [film] I Am Not Madame Bovary / Feng Xiaogang (2016)
Cell Phone
2003 novelUses the mobile phone as a lens to examine misunderstandings and shifting relationships, portraying the comic and tragic aspects of modern communication.
communication technologymisunderstandingurban life
Adaptations
- [film] Cell Phone / Feng Xiaogang (2003)
Translations
- English translation: MerwinAsia (translator: Howard Goldblatt)
Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers
1992 short stories / novellasA collection of short and mid-length works portraying trivial daily events and the absurdity of bureaucracy with humor and irony.
everyday lifebureaucracyhumor and irony
Remembering 1942
2009 historical novel / narrative non-fictionDeals with the 1942 famine in inland China, questioning how memory and history are represented and remembered.
faminehistorical memoryhuman dignity
Adaptations
- [film] Back to 1942 / Feng Xiaogang (2012)
Translations
- English translation: Arcade Publishing (Remembering 1942)
The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon
2007 novelA satirical novel about local characters and the rapidly changing Chinese society, portraying desires and mismatches among people.
real estate bubblelocal societycorruption and desire
Translations
- English translation: Arcade Publishing (translators: Howard Goldblatt & Sylvia Li-chun Lin)
Bibliography
- A Small Town: Tapu
- Hometown, Regime and Blood
- Corridors of Power / Official
- Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers
- Nonsense Talk
- Cell Phone
- The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon
- Someone to Talk To (One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences)
- Remembering 1942
- I Did Not Kill My Husband (I Am Not Madame Bovary)
- The Era of Watermelon Eaters
- One Day Three Autumns
Adaptations
- I Am Not Madame Bovary (film, dir. Feng Xiaogang)
- Back to 1942 (film, dir. Feng Xiaogang; based on Remembering 1942)
- Cell Phone (film, dir. Feng Xiaogang; based on Cell Phone)
Translations of Works
- One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences → English 'Someone to Talk To' (Duke University Press)
- Cell Phone → English translation (MerwinAsia, translator: Howard Goldblatt)
- Remembering 1942 → English translation (Arcade Publishing)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- realist depictionsatire and humorcolloquial, dialogue-driven styleensemble storytelling
- Recurring Motifs
- hometown and rural memoryabsurdity of bureaucracybreakdown of communicationhistorical memory (1942 famine)
Legacy
Liu Zhenyun is a major contemporary Chinese writer known for works that combine hometown experience and social criticism with humor. Many of his works have been adapted for screen and introduced internationally.
In Popular Culture
- Broad public recognition through film and TV adaptations, notably his collaborations with director Feng Xiaogang.
Quotes
-
Why won't the Chinese acknowledge the 1942 famine?
Source: The New York Times (op-ed) (2012)
Trivia
- Some of his novels (e.g. One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences) have sold over one million copies.
- At 14 he left his village to join the army; at 20 he achieved the highest score in Henan province on the national college entrance exam and entered Peking University.
- Married to prominent human rights activist Guo Jianmei.
- His works have been translated into more than 28 languages.
- Many works have been adapted into films and TV series.