Mo Yan
Mo Yan
Guan Moye, better known by the pen name Mo Yan, is a Chinese novelist and short story writer. Donald Morrison of U.S. news magazine TIME referred to him as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers", and Jim Leach called him the Chinese answer to Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 February 1955
CountryChina
important literature proud
When literature exists, perhaps we do not notice how important it is, but when it does not exist, our lives become coarsened and brutal. For this reason, I am proud of my profession, but also aware of its importance.
country unique people
My works are Chinese literature, which is part of world literature. They show the life of Chinese people as well as the country's unique culture and folk customs.
prayer mean writing
When I write, I try to represent the ordinary person in the pew, which means that, ironically, I'm qualified to write about prayer by being unqualified!
beautiful summer sunset
The sun, a red wheel, was sinking slowly in the west. Besides being spectacularly beautiful, the early-summer sunset was exceedingly soft and gentle: black mulberry leaves turned as red as roses; pristine white acacia petals shed an enshrouding pale-green aura. Mild evening breezes made both the mulberry leaves and the acacia petals dance and whirl, filling the woods with a soft rustle.
writing thinking soul
I think writers write for their consciences, they write for their own true audiences, for their souls.
character should novel
A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel.
real compassion real-courage
I know what real courage is, and I understand true compassion.
country army boys
For a country boy, poor as I was, whose constant worry was to be able to have enough to eat, the Army guaranteed one's survival.
voice use literature
Some may want to shout on the street, but we should tolerate those who hide in their rooms and use literature to voice their opinions.
order faces mutilation
A writer should always bravely face life, risking death and mutilation in order to dethrone an emperor.
spiritual voice views
The act of giving voice to this spiritual suffering is, in my view, the sacred duty of the writer.
jobs mean love-is
All kinds of mysterious phenomena exist in this world, but answers to most of them have come with advances in scientific knowledge. Love is the sole holdout-nothing can explain it. A Chinese writer by the name of Ah Cheng wrote that love is just a chemical reaction, an unconventional point of view that seemed quite fresh at the time. But if love can be controlled and initiated by means of chemistry, then novelists would be out of a job. So while he may have had his finger on the truth, I'll remain a member of the loyal opposition.
political literature world
I am also well aware that literature only has a minimal influence on political disputes or economic crises in the world, but its significance to human beings is ancient.
thinking profound understanding
Possibly because I've lived so much of my life in difficult circumstances, I think I have a more profound understanding of life.