The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize winner Mo Yan's collection of short stories published between 1981 and 1989. Mo shows his incredible talent with 30 stories that cross genres - from mystery to romance, and with diverse tones - from painting untainted country folks to revealing their despair. In Simplified Chinese. Annotation copyright Tsai Fong Books, Inc. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.
Modern Chinese author, in the western world most known for his novel Red Sorghum (which was turned into a movie by the same title). Often described as the Chinese Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller.
Mo Yan (莫言) is a pen name and means don't speak. His real name is Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè).
He has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 for his work which "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". Among the works highlighted by the Nobel judges were Red Sorghum (1987) and Big Breasts & Wide Hips (2004), as well as The Garlic Ballads.
This is the 5th novel or more I've read from Chinese author Mo Yan and literature Nobel Prize winner. I gave this one only a 3 stars because I am getting tired of reading his books. I have the feeling that if you've read one of his novels is like reading all of them. There is no change in writing style from one book to the next one and the stories tend to be similar. There is none of his novels that stands out from the rest.
I have to read novels from other Chinese authors to regain interest. Any suggestions?
My favourite story was La femme de Commandant. The others were educational and somewhat perplexing. I frowned at this book a lot. It's greatest quality, in my opinion, is Mo Yan's attention to and obvious love of animals.
Les récits sont un croisement entre nouvelles et contes. Certains sont bien faits, d’autres font beaucoup de détours et on perd un peu le fil de l’histoire.