Red Sorghum: A Novel of China

Beginning in 2010 with Mario Vargas Llosa, continuing with Tomas Transtromer in 2011, and now reviewing this year's Nobel prize winnter, Mo Yan, I have selected one of their more popular works to determine if they are worthy of such an esteemed award. Up to this point, no one had disappointed, but I was a bit suspicious when a firestorm developed after the Nobel committee announced his award.No one would deny that publicly Mo Yan has not endeared himself to many writers from the west; for example, Salman Rushdie called him a "patsy" of the Chinese Communist government and Herta Muller referred to his nomination as a "catastrophe" since he has been a member of the communist party and has refused to sign a petition to release imprisoned Chinese Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. Not to mention, Mo Yan did himself no favors in the eyes of the west by copying Mao's discussions on the merits of literature. In his acceptance speech, he probably shocked many when he said that some censorship is acceptable if speech maligns a person's good name.Clearly, his views on activism and apparent public inaction bristle the more virtuous appetites of many western writers. However, in his acceptance speech, Mo Yan made an important point: "For a writer, the best way to speak is by writing. You will find everything I need to say in my works." And so I decided to take him at his word by ordering a copy of Red Sorghum, a fictional memoir that captures three generations of Chinese struggling to survive the onslaught of the Japanese invasion right before and during World War II.There is an incredible amount of detail in the novel, but one thing that it's not is the film. To gain some background knowledge, I decided to watch the 90 minute production but was greatly disappointed with it after I finished reading the novel. The film only covers 1/3 of the book--it ends with the nameless narratr's father chanting an anti-Japanese slogan as he stands in front of his dying mother. If people are determining the literary merit of Mo Yan's craft based on this film, then they will be sorely disappointed. The best way to understand the author's views, at least in Mr. Yan's case, is to read his literature.And indeed, once I did that, not only were my eyes opened to a writing style similar to that of William Faulkner's minus a confusing stream of consciousness, I recognized that this author takes the "silent approach" when speaking truth to power. I do not think this is the appropriate venue to rehash every last example, but there is enough anti-communist fervor in this novel that should have had the author locked up long ago in his homeland. There are countless allegories that reference the brutish behavior of both the Nationalist and Communist parties, but there are literal examples that should make a reader's eyeballs pop out!There is the example where the author flash forwards to the tail end of the catastrophic Cultural Revolution in 1973, where literally everyone under the communal system is starving to death. What is even more shocking is that this scene juxtaposes the Chinese during the occupation who, while fighting for their lives, are still self-sufficient enough to provide for themselves. Message: Communism leads to starvation and dependence. The exclamation mark, of course, is the most obvious: The narrator's grandmother and grandfather--the heroes of the rebellion--are NOT communist. In fact, as owners of a profitable winery, our heroes could be considered capitalist!Based on the media backlash, this is not what I expected from Mo Yan, but I now understand why he begged that people read his literature in order to grasp his philosophical outlook. Having done that, I recognize that Mr. Yan's artistry is a silent force in the push for change within Chinese society. Before Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Muller insulted him, had they in fact read any of Mr. Yan's novels? If they had, would they have realized that sometimes change may not need a sword nor a trumpet but rather a pencil?

Our book club chose this book since Mo Yan had won the Pulitzer prize this year. I had to force myself to finish it because the details of the horror perpetrated on the Chinese was overwhelming. Only 4 out of 12 members showed up for the discussion, in part because they must not have finished it. I know he has written truthfully because I have a letter from my great aunt who was a missionary in Foochow dated May 1935 in which she wrote: " Poor China certainly is suffering from the hand of Japan. Little by little Japan is getting a strong hold on China which will be exceedingly difficult for China to shake off. China is going heavily into military training in the hope that some day she may be able to avenge Japan. " As to the lives of the Chinese families portrayed in novel and the bandits which were everywhere, she also wrote, " Oh! I wish you could have seen some of the miserable towns or villages as we call them which Edith and I passed Sunday. It really seems impossible, but they are the homes of people instead of animals. Unpainted rough mud walls, one story high, the earth for the floor, not a window in the whole house, little alleys for streets. The people rise at dawn and retire soon after dark. Work is their only portion in life. Farm work with all hand labor all they produce is carried from place to place in great loads carried over he shoulders of both men and women. You see the farmers congregate in villages, they do not live on their farms, but go out by day to work the land. Hard times have hit China too, finances, drought, bandits. We passed the sight of a village where the bandits entered and they took everything then destroyed all the buildings, only a few bits of mud wall was left to mark the sight. We passed the sight of another village, also on Sunday, where a few bits of wall are the only evidence that people once lived there. Several hundred people lived in that village and Christmas 1933 the entire place was destroyed by bombs dropped from airplanes. We heard the bombing. That was a Christmas I shall never forget, bombing all around us. It was when our Chinese in this section set up an independent government called “The Peoples Government” and General Chiang Kai-shek sent his soldiers and airplanes to recapture this section; which he did, but they were sad days for the people here."

This a novel centred around a few villages in China, amidst the inhuman atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers, written in a very beautiful language.

Mo Yan is one of the Chinese writers I frequently read, sometimes the descriptions are so accurate and cruel that I can hardly continue without stopping. But the story is amazing, the style is perfect.

The book was read in our Book club.It was ineteresting to learn abou events in China dirint the war with Japan, though centered at a narrow area and few persons.The lanuage and imaginery is very powerful, contrasting the human cruelty with the beauty of nature. There is a very subtle humour and criticism of the regime, expressed allegorically.I did not like the detailed and gory descriptions of battles, death, torture - it was too much...

Ich führe gerade einenlängeren Forschungsaufenthalt in China durch. Als die Nachricht über den Literaturnobelpreis (2012) meine chinesischen Gastgeber erreichte, brach hier großer Jubel aus. Ich muß zugeben, ich hatte von Mo Yan bisher weder etwas gehört, noch gelesen. Als Naturwissenschaftler interessiert man sich i.a. mehr für eine andere Art Literatur. Ich habe mich mit meinen chinesischen Gastgebern beraten und mir daraufhin die Englische Ausgabe in der Übersetzung von Howard Goldblatt auf meinen Kindle geladen.Es ist eine sehr gelungene Übersetzung, die wahrscheinlich (ich bin des Chinesischen nicht mächtig) die Stimmung sehr gut widerspiegelt. Ich habe den Roman mit großer Begeisterung gelesen und habe jetzt das Gefühl Land und Leute besser zu verstehen. Es wird nicht der letzte Roman von Mo Yan sein den ich gelesen habe.Dieter HH Hoffmann

I loved the prose in this book, which makes it quite a page turner. Despite its constant bandying from past to present from chapter to chapter, it is the surreal narration and beautiful writing that makes it interesting reading.