Nishit Kumar
Assonance: A Journal of Russian & Comparative Literary Studies (published by the Department of Russian & Comparative Literature, University of Calicut), No.24, January 2024
Abstract: This article examines the role of “others” in the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature by taking a case study of Mo Yan’s Literature Nobel in 2012. Here, “others” refer to translators, publishers, literary agents, movie adaptation, and the state. Mo Yan started writing and publishing his works in 1981 but it was the movie ‘Red Sorghum’ directed by Zhang Yimou in 1987 based on Mo Yan’s novel which brought Mo Yan into the limelight. Mo Yan was awarded many international literary prizes before the Nobel. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, literary critics argued that it was Howard Goldblatt’s translation that was mainly responsible for Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize in Literature. The Chinese people and state waited for more than 100 years to end their “Nobel Complex”. Therefore, it would be interesting to identify the “others” in literature and their contributions that brought Mo Yan and his works to the Nobel Committee.
About the author: Nishit Kumar was a HYI Chinese Studies in India Visiting Fellow from 2019-20.