When Chinese novelist Mo Yan accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this week, the relationship between literature and politics attracted much attention. The award is often given to writers who forcefully oppose political repression. When authors are from countries recently embroiled in political strife, or there are repressive dictatorships or socialist regimes involved, sometimes the artistic aspects of an author’s work receive less attention than they would for more famous authors. Even authors from stable, economically advanced countries are sometimes honored by the Prize as much for representing a new, repressed, or marginalized voice as for their literary achievements, leading many observers to conclude that the Nobel Literature Prize is “political.” It is very rare for the prize to be given to a citizen of a Communist country in good standing with his government; I believe Mo Yan is only the second, after the Soviet novelist Mikhail Sholokhov in 1965.
ONLINE: Yan Lianke
press release: Yan Lianke is a Chinese novelist frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature; heâs often called the countryâs most controversial writer. In this special virtual Humanities Without Boundaries talk, Yan will discuss his experiences researching and writingÂ
Dream of Ding Village, the prescient story of a public health crisis of the 1990s when rural villages selling their blood led to an AIDS outbreak. He will reflect on the novelâs perspective on pandemic profiteering, government corruption, as well as trauma and hope.Â
Officially censored upon its Chinese publication,Â
Dream of Ding Village was the result of three years of undercover work by Yan, who once worked as an assistant to a well-known Beijing anthropologist in an effort to study a small village decimated by HIV/AIDS as a result of unregulated blood selling. Yanâs virtual visit provides us an opportunity to ask the questions on all of our minds du
Yan Lianke es considerado uno de los mejores novelistas de la China vanguardia.com.mx - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vanguardia.com.mx Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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