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Mo Yan has been a name that calls for special attention in China’s Literature field after mid-80s. His early works resemble that of Lu Xun and was a pioneer in applying magical yet realistic styles with an artistic touch. Since Mao released the famous ‘Speech in the Yan-An Literature Seminar,’ for almost 40 years, literature works in China remain monotonous as major themes revolved around the glorifying of Gon-Nong-Bin and the loyal devotion towards Chairman Mao. As a critical member of the Chinese Literature field, Mo Yan not only expresses his sarcasm about this particular period, he has also been brave in criticizing the society after China embraced the world. In some critics’ opinions that Mo Yan’s Romance of the Red Sorghum Family creates a new dimension for China’s historical novels. His novels offer readers another knowledge source apart from the conventional histories. Mo Yan’s unorthodox way of thinking sheds lights in evaluating phenomena which people seldom pay attention to or simply choose to ignore. This kind of unconventional judgements tend to land on the contrastive values of civilization and morals, of sacredness and ugliness. Taken from biological and psychological imaginings, Mo Yan fights mainstream ideologies by manufacturing dreams for others through the media of words. This is no doubt his signature style. Being a storyteller with unique experience and sensitivities towards life, he went through the transformation of novel by blending his own life with that of the ancestors’. In his novels, you can feel love and compassion towards the common people, or shall we call, the masses. At the same time, he offers critical judgements against the traditional ideologies. The dialogue in Mo Yan’s novels become ‘heterglossia’ in this period of cultural transformation, demonstrate most honestly the critique of the poisonous residue from the political aftermath which in fact, corresponds well to what F. Jameson describes as the essential quality of the third world allegory. Mo Yan stays as an aloof writer who records reality with words and the Utopia of his words is shattered to pieces after being mingled with the practical reality. Mo Yan remains alone in this sacred and difficult quest against the uncertainties of China at the end of the century.
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