Not much is known about post-Mao Chinese literature and whether there has been a wind of change since Beng’s liberalization. This year the Nobel Prize for literature has gone to China’s Mo Yan, which is a pseudonym for Goan Moye. He is a writer with hallucinatory realism which merges with folk tales, history and the contemporary reality. He is one of China’s most pro-life and widely read authors and his work was often banned in the country. The sweep and breadth of his writings has led one of his translators to compare him to Charles Dickens. Mo wrote a lot blending original realism and satire in his portrayal of Chinese society in the last 100 years. His imagery is lush and yet sharp. He is very articulate about China’s agony during the Japanese invasion in World War II and the early years of Maoism.
The Nobel Prize for literature is hotly contested and the decision is always highly controversial. The award going to Louis Goulding of the UK and Truman Capote may have raised many eyebrows. It is strange that Bernard Shaw did not win the prize. One of the greatest novelists in English, Graham Greene missed the boat. Winston Churchill on the other hand carried off the trophy for his historical work. Gunter Grass took years to achieve the honour. Translations are hard to assess as some great writings do not travel well in translation. This year Phillip Roth who made literary history ending his major novel with the sentence, “And now we begin” missed out on the award once again. The Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakani was another near miss at the honour.