Is Mo Yan "unworthy" of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature ...

Mo Yan became only the second Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 11, initiating flurries of congratulations and back-patting across the Chinese media. However, some dissidents and human rights observers are unhappy with the award going to a writer with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Mo, born Guo Moye in 1955, Shandong province, grew up during the Cultural Revolution, was forced to drop out of primary school to herd cattle, sometimes eating tree bark and weeds to survive. He joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1976, and began studying literature at the PLA Academy for Arts in 1984.

Mo Yan, a pen-name, means "don't speak" and, according to a speech he gave to the Open University of Hong Kong, was chosen to remind himself not to be too frank when speaking in mainland China.

A number of Mo's books have been banned in China, such as Big Breasts and Wide Hips, set during the Chinese civil war and deemed to be too favourable to the Kuomintang. TIME called Mo one of the most "oft-banned" writers in China. Nevertheless critics, especially dissident Chinese writers, have attacked Mo for being too ready to self-censor and having close ties to the CCP.

"A writer should express criticism and indignation at the dark side of society and the ugliness of human nature, but we should not use one uniform expression," Mo said in a speech at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, "Some may want to shout on the street, but we should tolerate those who hide in their rooms and use literature to voice their opinions."

An especially sore point among dissidents was Mo's involvement in a book released to mark the 70th-anniversary of Mao Zedong's notorious ?Speech at Yan?an Forum on Art and Literature?. Mo was one of a 100 writers and artists who hand-copied paragraphs from the speech, which said that writers who failed to integrate their work into the Communist revolution would be punished.

Mo is vice-chairman of the Chinese Writers' Association, a government-backed organisation which did not comment on the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to dissident writer Liu Xiaobo (an action that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people but inspired Shanghaiist favourite, the Confucius Peace Prize).

Mo's failure to speak up for imprisoned writers like Liu makes it "inappropriate" for him to win a Nobel, according to human rights lawyer Teng Biao, "On the political front, he is singing the same tune with an undemocratic regime."

Ma Jian, a dissident Chinese author who was banned from ever re-entering China in 2011, has also attacked Mo's subservience to the CCP:

Writers like Mo Yan may show a little criticism of Chinese society in their novels, but when the literary community in China is hurt, as it was with the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, they don?t write about it. They say Liu Xiaobo isn?t an author, he is only concerned with politics.

Jian protested the 2012 London Book Fair, which focused on Chinese works but was criticized for only featuring those authors "approved" by Beijing, including Mo Yan. ?The event is supposed to promote cultural exchange but it co-operates with the perpetrators,? said Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) president Tienchi Liao.

Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2012/10/11/is_nobel_prize_winner_mo_yang_unwor.php

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