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Loading... Life and Death are Wearing Me Out: A Novel (original 2006; edition 2008)by Yan Mo (Author)
Work InformationLife and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan (2006)
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I know it's lazy to describe a book in terms of other books, but when I say that "Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out" has the Lebenslust and earthiness of Rabelais ā the fantastical evocation of village life and the life of children of The Tin Drum ā the satirical perversity of Swift and Gogol (whose Dead Souls shares this book's interest in the risks and opportunities of turbulent times) ā that goes some way to explaining why I loved it. It reminded me too of European writers like Gombrowicz, Konwicki, Hrabal, and HaÅ”ek, in its irreverent humour and surrealistic flirtations against a backdrop of buereaucratic terror. And although I've read very little Chinese literature, I was delighted to trace a stylistic and thematic line from Cao Xueqin, whose mastery of tonal shifts ā from sentimental to slapstick, sometimes in a single chapter ā and eschewal of black and white morality, archetypes and clichĆ©s are equally evident in Mo Yan's multi-generational story. In short, I fucking loved it. ( ) My story begins on January 1, 1950. In the two years prior to that, I suffered cruel torture such as no man can imagine in the bowels of hell. So begins a dizzying journey of literary ingenuity, effortlessness and sheer mastery of style and narrative. Mo Yanās Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (2006) is a thoughtful voyage deep into the self, a kind of inverse Christmas Carol (1843), a chronicle of the times equal to One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) of such epic complexity itās unfathomable that Mo Yan[1] wrote this masterpiece by hand in mere 42 days.[2] I read it in 18 days, so it took him only twice the time to literally put pen to paper. What can I say, Iām hooked. I donāt care what other books I might have had the craving for, theyāre queued as of now. What Iām going to read is more Mo Yan. Two days after finishing Life and Death Iām already halfway through Sandalwood Death (2001) and loving every word of it. You know that feeling one everything that clicks? Itās glorious, and itās a glorious thing to be in the beginning of my journey and knowing that there are six more novels and a collection of short stories to read after Sandalwood Death. I think Iām going to have to revisit Gao Xingjian after Mo, since there is a similar burning love I remember feeling toward Soul Mountain (1989). The thing about this book is that Mo Yan is simply so brilliant a writer that it seems he throws everything at you and, contrary to all expectations, makes it all stick. It is gruesome, funny, beautiful, grotesque, philosophical, mundane, historical, fantastical, depressing and entertaining all at the same time. Not only does his literary genius shine through, itās also a very deep commitment to observing humanity and the silly things we do. Mo Yan is able to write things that bring out laughs, but at the same time heās able to make us laugh in such a way that reminds of the undeniable hardness of life, like bedrock, beneath the surface. He hides the tragic in the comic, and vice versa, alighting both processes with his immaculate style: āāParty Secretary Hong, from this day forward, all boars are my father, and all sows are my mother!āā Heās also able to change register in an instant, moving with ease between the sentimental, poetic, the sentimentally poetic, matter-of-fact and comic in a single paragraph. He never throws the other registers to the gutter, his intentions are not mean; instead, he uses them like a conductor uses different instruments, allowing each their existence and focus in equal measure. There are times when Iām simply in awe of some peopleās talent. Mo Yan is such a person, and Iām glad we have a dedicated, brilliant translator in Howard Goldblatt whoās making Mo Yanās work come alive in the English language. After reading Life and Death I have been baffled by comments in the media that describe Mo Yan as a sort of minion of the Chinese government. I mean, what a small miracle that a work like this exists. Really! In the words of Mr Goldblatt, No one who has read this novel, which won the inaugural Newman Prize for Chinese, could ever, in good conscience, characterize Mo Yan as a government stooge.[3] Endnotes: [1] Mo Yan is actually a pen name, which means ādonāt speakā. It is, however, treated as a name with both a first and last name. In China, the last name always comes first as in Cao Xueqin, Gao Xingjian, Wong Kar-Wai, and so on. [2] Jim Leach, The Real Mo Yan, retrieved December 10th, 2014. [3] , retrieved December 12th, 2014. 11 December, 2014
After finally making it through Life and Death ā a battle as hard-fought as the one between humans and pigs in the middle of the novel ā Iām not able to say that I enjoyed the book, though parts of it kept me engaged enough to consider picking up another of Mo Yanās worksā¦someday. Maybe.
Fiction.
Literature.
Historical Fiction.
Humor (Fiction.)
HTML:The Newman Prizeā??winning "wildly visionary and creative novel" of modern China from the Nobel Prizeā??winning author of Red Sorghum and The Garlic Ballads (The New York Times). In this "epic black comedy," benevolent landowner Ximen Nao is less than pleased to find himself in the underworld after being killed in Chairman Mao's land reform movement. And even though he's unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing, he is soon punished by being sent back to the mortal realm . . . as a donkey, an ox, a pig, a dog, a monkey, and so on (Kirkus Reviews). But in each of his reincarnations, Nao experiences another defining event in China's maddening national transformation under the heavy hand of Communismā??such as the Chinese Famine, the ever-changing Cultural Revolution, and the devastating failure of the Great Leap Forward. And in each new life, he finds both the humanity and the insanity of his burgeoning homeland. With this "exuberantly imaginative" novel, China's most revered, renowned, and feared literary artist proves once again that the only true freedom is the freedom of the heart and mind (Washington P No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)895.1352Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages Chinese Chinese fiction Modern period 1912ā2010 1949ā2010LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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