海角大神

Chinese author Mo Yan became the first Chinese citizen in the Swedish Academy鈥檚 111-year history to win the Nobel Prize in literature when he was awarded the prestigious prize Thursday. (Gao Xingjian, who won the prize in 2000, was born in China but was a French national when he won the award.)

鈥淭hrough a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition,鈥� the award鈥檚 citation declared, describing him as a writer 鈥渨ho with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history, and the contemporary.

Mo Yan, whose real name is Guan Moye (鈥淢o Yan鈥� is a pen name meaning 鈥渄on鈥檛 speak鈥�), told Nobel organizers he was 鈥渙verjoyed and scared鈥� when he was told he had won the coveted award.

Once called 鈥渙ne of the most famous, oft-banned, and widely pirated of all Chinese writers,鈥� Mo Yan is known for his depiction of rural Chinese life, particularly its women, which populate many of his novels, short stories, and essays. His novel 鈥淩ed Sorghum,鈥� about the life of a young woman working in a distillery, was made into a film directed by Zhang Yimou, which became one of the most internationally acclaimed Chinese films.

Other well-known works include 鈥淔rog,鈥� 鈥淏ig Breasts and Wide Hips,鈥� and 鈥淟ife and Death Are Wearing Me Out.鈥� Mo Yan鈥檚 most recent novel, 鈥淲a,鈥� is the story about the consequences of China鈥檚 one-child policy.

Mo Yan鈥檚 unusual biography informs his work: He was born in 1955 in Gaomi, China, the son of farmers who left school at 12 during the Cultural Revolution to work, first in agriculture, then in a factory, according to his Nobel biography. He joined the People鈥檚 Liberation Army in 1976, where he began to study literature and write. Hi first short story was published in 1981, in a literary journal.

鈥淚n his writing Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings in the province of his birth,鈥� the Nobel biography stated.

鈥淗e writes about the peasantry, about life in the countryside, about people struggling to survive, struggling for their dignity, sometimes winning but most of the time losing,鈥� Peter Englund, head of the Swedish Academy told the press. 鈥淭he basis for his books was laid when as a child he listened to folktales. The description magical realism has been used about him, but I think that is belittling him 鈥� this isn't something he's picked up from Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez, but something which is very much his own. With the supernatural going in to the ordinary, he's an extremely original narrator.鈥�

Along with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, Mo Yan was one of several writers 鈥渢ipped by bookmakers to break what critics had seen as a preponderance of European winners over the past decade,鈥� writes the New York Times.

He is the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. (Gao Xingjian, who won in 2000, is now a French citizen, and Pearl Buck, who won in 1938 is an American author.)

The prize is worth 8 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.