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Mo Yan

ばく げん

Mo Yan

Aliases: 管謨業
Pen Names: Mo Yan（Pen name derived from childhood admonitions by his mother; literally implies 'don't speak'.）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1955-02-17 （Gaomi, Shandong, China）
Nationality
China
Languages
Chinese
Residence History
Gaomi, Shandong (birthplace) → Beijing (study and literary activity)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Screenwriter
Active Years
1981-
Memberships
Chinese Communist Party
Influenced By
Pu Songling, Gabriel García Márquez, William Faulkner

Education

PLA Academy of Art
Department of Literature
Period: 1984-不明
Country: China
Began writing while enrolled
Beijing Normal University
Country: China
Listed in some sources; details unclear

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature
2012
Organization: The Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
Mao Dun Literature Prize
2011
Work: Frog Songs (Amei)
Organization: China Writers Association
Result: 受賞
Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize
2006
Organization: Fukuoka Prize Selection Committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Red Sorghum

1986 Historical novel / Magic realism

A multigenerational story set in rural China blending family saga, the Anti-Japanese War and folkloric elements.

rural lifefamilywarfusion of folklore and history
Adaptations
  • [Film] Red Sorghum / 張芸謀 (Zhang Yimou) (1987)
Translations
  • Red Sorghum (Japanese translation)

Big Breasts and Wide Hips

1995 Family epic / Historical novel

An expansive novel following a family's women across modern Chinese history; noted for frank sexual depiction and sweeping historical scope.

womenbody and sexualityhistorical violence
Translations
  • Big Breasts and Wide Hips (Japanese translation)

Frog Songs (Amei)

2009 Social novel

Addresses contemporary Chinese social taboos such as the one-child policy while exploring tensions between individual and state.

critique of policyindividual vs. stateintergenerational conflict
Translations
  • Frog Songs (Japanese translation)

Bibliography

  • Red Sorghum (vol.1 & 2)
  • Big Breasts and Wide Hips (vol.1 & 2)
  • The Sandalwood Death (vol.1 & 2)
  • Happy Times (short stories)
  • Transparent Carrot (short stories)
  • Frog Songs

Adaptations

  • Red Sorghum (dir. Zhang Yimou, 1987)
  • Happy Times (dir. Zhang Yimou, 2000)
  • A Story of Home (dir. Huo Jianqi, 2003)

Translations of Works

  • Red Sorghum (Japanese translation)
  • Big Breasts and Wide Hips (Japanese translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Hallucinatory realism (in the lineage of magic realism)Lush, visceral blending of folklore and history
Recurring Motifs
rural lifehunger and survivalfamily and kinshipfolkloric elements

Legacy

One of contemporary China's leading writers. Through hallucinatory realism he depicts rural life and modern history; internationally acclaimed (Nobel Prize) while also generating debate over censorship and political stance.

Academic Societies

  • China Writers Association (associated)

Quotes

  • Regarding his pen name: 'My mother repeatedly told me to be careful with my words. So I took the name Mo Yan — "don't speak."'
    Source: Mo Yan's memoirs / lectures
  • ('The Nobel citation' summarized) 'For merging folk tales, history and the contemporary through hallucinatory realism.'
    Source: The Swedish Academy (Nobel Prize announcement) (2012)

Trivia

  • Pen name 'Mo Yan' literally implies 'don't speak.'
  • His novel Red Sorghum was adapted by Zhang Yimou and won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
  • After the Nobel Prize award, debates arose concerning censorship and his political positions.