8 HKFOCUS Monday, May 21, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION 9 WRITING A NEW CHAPTER MO YAN’S BIO By throwing his weight behind the Lui Che Woo Prize, Mo Yan, Nobel-laureate for literature, is extending the scope of the altruistic impulse that shines through much of his writing. Chitralekha Basu reports. resumably China’s most inter- sheep and plants, understanding them the mother of his son. A sudden fl ush of Wearing di erent hats nationally well-known writer, more intensely than kids my age nor- love for the woman he had once raped The unshakable bond between a land the Nobel-laureate Mo Yan mally would.” stops him from committing a similar act and the people who draw their sustenance A peek inside Mo’s mind acknowledged his literary debt The theme of hunger has been master- on another helpless woman. from it is still quite central to Mo’s writing. Pto the Hong Kong writer Dung Kai- fully maneuvered by writers like Knut This is exemplifi ed particularly ingenious- Q: Looking back on the old days, who do you feel the most grateful to? cheung during an interview with China Hamsun and Franz Kafka to depict man’s From page to stage ly in the novel Life and Death Are Wearing A: One of the teachers I want to thank is Mao Zhaohuang, editor of Lian Chi, a bimonthly Daily last month. Mo’s raising of the hat ability to rise above his state, turn abject- Mo isn’t fi nished with Red Sorghum Me Out (2006), in which the benevolent literary publication based in Baoding, Hebei province. At that time writing was fashion- to the much younger Dung is aligned to ness into a creative enterprise, howsoever yet. More than 20 years after its publi- landowner Ximen Nao, executed in the able among the youngsters. Every editor would receive submissions by the sackful, so it the spirit of generosity that runs through bizarre. There are many such instances cation and several play and fi lm adap- wake of the land reform movement, is rein- was very di cult to make one’s work catch the reader’s attention. Once Mao had read much of his fi ction. The ability to see the in Mo’s fi ction, including a particularly tations (including a much celebrated carnated as donkey, ox, pig, dog, monkey my work he rushed all the way to the mountains, where I was living then, to look for me. regenerative elements of life in the most macabre but nonetheless captivating one by Zhang Yimou) later, he keeps and ultimately a human child, revisiting Later, he took me to Baiyang Lake. That experience led to my debut story, Falling Rain dire of situations is the hallmark of Mo’s scene in Red Sorghum (1986). Gaomi coming back to the story — commonly his land and folks in subsequent births, on a Spring Night. writing, to say nothing of the stunningly county is seized by the Japanese troops. recognized as a representative novel of watching them deal with the newer exi- vivid, powerful images he creates to pres- Enraged by the passive but steadfast China the world over. Unhappy with the gencies of a steadily and sometimes radi- Q: What would you suggest to reignite the youth’s zeal for reading in today’s technological era? ent these goriest of truths. His faith in the resistance shown by uncle Arhat, the play-scripts based on the novel in circu- cally altering China through the second A: Some still believe a true reading experience is only possible by fl ipping through the pages irrepressible human spirit that fi nds a commanding officer orders him to be lation, Mo recently adapted the fi rst two half of the 20th century. of a physical book, but I think it’s too conservative. If you are reading a classic, irrespec- way of rea rming its resilience against skinned alive. Mo describes the scene in chapters of the book into a play, to be During his life as a pig in the 1970s, tive of the mode of reading, the book a ects you in similar ways. I think we should take a immeasurable odds seems to issue out of unsparing graphic detail. The peeling of published in People’s Literature (Renmin Ximen Nao becomes a victim of corruption broader view of the term “reading”. a fountainhead of compassion and large- uncle Arhat, by the village butcher who Wenxue) magazine. He has also written in the ranks. The fodder served to him at heartedness. It’s a quality often found in is made to act at gunpoint, is a metic- an opera based on the historical novel the village pig-raising farm is mixed with Q: How has China’s reform and opening-up policy impacted your life and career? the works of the world’s fi nest writers — a ulously performed, perfectly executed Sandalwood Death (2001), set against the rat droppings and eventually, after a par- A: We could read a lot of Western literature in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Later, in the Age: 63 sign of what the poet John Keats might feat — almost a tribute to the deceased. backdrop of the “Boxer Rebellion” (1899- ticularly harsh winter when agricultural 1990s, a large number of contemporary works by Chinese authors had been translated Born: Feb 17, 1955 have called “the holiness of heart’s a ec- The climax is cathartic, with heavy rains 1901), due out soon in Shiyue magazine. production is at an all-time low and there into various languages like English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. While we were Hometown: Gaomi, Shandong tions”. By becoming an ambassador of washing away the last drop of blood from While the ravishing, intense, sensual is no pig-feed left to go around, with the learning from the West, Western writers were also learning from us, reciprocally. the Lui Che Woo Prize, Mo seems to have the execution site and uncle Arhat’s story imagery generic to Mo’s fi ction often con- meat of dying pigs — playing havoc with province extended the scope of a similar altruism apotheosized as part of the local lore. jures up a cinematic experience for his the food chain and vitiating the ecosystem. at the core of his writing. “Doubtless, poverty brings out the readers, Mo, it turns out, has always been The memory of those years serves as Career: The eponymous prize, started by the worst in human beings,” said Mo. “Then in love with the theater. “I am drawn to a reminder to use the natural resources Hong Kong-based philanthropist Lui at the same time, under extreme poverty, plays,” he said. “I was infl uenced by the at our disposal with care and use them • Enlisted in the People’s Liberation Che-woo in 2015, is one of the world’s the benign side of human beings shines local Chinese opera. I had long fantasized well — one of the core values the Lui prize Army in 1976; most valuable awards given to individu- even more gloriously, dazzling us.” His about composing an opera that actors seeks to uphold and help enhance. • Started working at Procuratorial als and organizations for outstanding short story Man and Beast, in which the will sing on stage.” “We have to develop the economy on a achievements toward building a safe and protagonist Yu Zhan’ao from Red Sor- He recently published an opera script sustainable basis,” said Mo. “We shouldn’t Daily in 1997; sustainable world, replete with positive ghum reappears, illustrates this rather in People’s Literature, based on a tale he think only of our own generation but • Currently the dean of the values. In Hong Kong to promote the Lui well. Waiting to ambush the advancing had heard from his mother. It will be also need to consider the needs of the Literature Institute of the Chinese award, Mo talked about the range and Japanese troops, Yu, the leader of a rag- staged this year, Mo informed us. thousands of generations who will come National Academy of Arts value of the award and his role in short- tag rebel army, fi nds himself stepping Understandably, he wants to see his after us, so that our o spring can live in a listing the candidates, even as he seemed into a fox’s lair. Much like a feral animal stories come to life in their di erent man- clean, beautiful environment.” conscious, perhaps even slightly regret- himself, Yu has no qualms about dislodg- ifestations, across di erent literary and Like Ximen Nao, who was reborn on Education: ful, of drawing some attention to himself ing the fox couple from their den and performance art forms. The man who earth in his several di erent incarnations, • Master of Literature and Art at in the process. He kept reiterating that pushing them to their deaths following a never stepped out of his provincial life in narrating the story of the making of pres- charity loses some of its sheen when the protracted battle. A while later, the sight Gaomi county until he was 21 is welcom- ent-day China, Mo Yan too has been tell- Beijing Normal University (1991); donator tries to gain brownie points out of a lost Japanese woman brings out the ing and ready to embrace the tremen- ing the China story over the years. It’s just • Graduate of People’s Liberation of the act and, true to his words, declined animal in him again. He proceeds to rape dous changes China has witnessed since that sometimes he likes wearing di erent Mo Yan is internationally celebrated and his works routinely translated into English discussing his personal contributions her, unleashing the pent-up racial hatred then.