Comments on: Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize In Literature Lecture

By: » Mo Yan’s Nobel Banquet Speech: “When (Literature) Does Not Exist, Our Lives Become Coarsened And Brutal” Beijing Cream

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:51:22 +0000

[...] read these stories about him. Check out his considerably longer lecture. Um, read the Xinhua write-up? Then chatter [...]

By: CP

CP — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:17:29 +0000

What’s the big deal if Mo Yan winning it was a political decision? The most embarrassing political Nobel awards were those given to Barack Obama, for basically being black and winning the US presidency, and then the EU, for basically not breaking apart and fighting another war.

By: King Baeksu

King Baeksu — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 15:03:18 +0000

“Why does everything in China have to be about politics?”

Tell that to the Stalinists in Zhongnanhai!

By: Jonathan Alpart

Jonathan Alpart — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:09:56 +0000

Why does everything in China have to be about politics?

And did Liu Xiaobo not win the Nobel Prize?

By: King Baeksu

King Baeksu — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 04:46:13 +0000

“So long as the work correctly and vividly describes this nebulous, massively contradictory terrain, it will inevitably transcend politics and be endowed with literary excellence.”

And yet by giving the CCP a free pass since the announcement that he had won the Nobel Prize, Mo Yan has allowed his work to be dragged down to the “base” level of politics, since his win contributes greatly to the legitimacy and prestige of the CCP, especially in the eyes of the Chinese people.

Moreover, if one chooses to believe the assessment of scholars and critics like Anna Sun, who find his literary style be more than a little wanting, even “diseased,” then his Nobel Prize itself can only be viewed as a political choice, awarded in recognition of China’s growing clout on the international stage.

As far as Mo Yan’s insistence than “pure” literature transcends mere politics, I find that the man doth protest too much.

Don’t speak any more, sir. Don’t speak.