Nobels litteraturpris 2012 går til kineseren Mo Yan. Men hvem er han?
Mo Yan sies å skrive akkurat på grensen til det som blir tolerert av kinesiske myndigheter.
Selv sier han at det i ethvert land er begrensinger på hva man kan skrive om:
Mo Yan is adamant that he never worries about censorship when choosing what to write about. «There are certain restrictions on writing in every country,» he says, adding that the inability to attack some topics head on is actually an advantage. Such limitations make a writer «conform to the aesthetics of literature,» Mo Yan argues.
Hadde jo vært fint hvis prisen fikk kineserne til å glemme en annen nobelpris for en stakket stund. Men det er det vel ingen grunn til å tro. Vi får håpe norske myndigheter ihvertfall bruker anledningen til å gratulere den kinesiske prisvinneren.
Mo Yan sier følgende om sin egen litteratur:
Whatever the reason, Mo Yan makes it clear that his fiction will stay rooted in Gaomi — or rather his historical version of it. The novel he is contemplating next, for example, will be centered around a siege of the town during the 1930s, when China was riven with warlord rivalry.
He tries to keep up with contemporary writers — most of whom also write on uncontroversial subjects, like 20-somethings agonizing over exams, relationships and the like. But Mo Yan says that it’s «impossible» for him to enjoy their work.
Han har utgitt følgende på norsk:
- Rødt korn (1985)
- Store bryster og brede hofter (2011, original 1996)
- Livet og døden tar rotta på meg (2010, original 1996)
Alle hans verk:
- Red Sorghum (first published in 1987 in Chinese; in 1993 in English)
- The Garlic Ballads (first published in English in 1995)
- Explosions and Other Stories, a collection of short stories
- The Republic of Wine: A Novel (first published in 1992 in Chinese; 2000 in English)
- Shifu: You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh, a collection of short stories (first published in 2002 in English)
- Big Breasts & Wide Hips (first published in 1996 in Chinese; 2005 in English)
- Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (published in English in 2008)
Kim N. Gabrielli 