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Mo says his Nobel Prize a victory of literature

Xinhua, October 13, 2012

• Nobel Literature Prize winner Mo Yan on Friday said his prize was a victory of literature, but not a victory of political correctness.

  Nobel Literature Prize winner Mo Yan on Friday said his prize was a victory of literature, but not a victory of political correctness.

  Speaking in his hometown Gaomi in east China's Shandong Province, Mo told reporters: "My novels are bigger than politics. The prize the Swedish Academy awarded to me is a victory of literature, but not a victory of political correctness. This is an award of literature and I got the prize for literature."

  Mo has been criticized for copying by hand a celebrated speech by late Chairman Mao Zedong on art and literature, which was delivered in the former revolutionary base Yan'an. Commenting on the criticism, Mo said the speech was a historical necessity and played a positive role in overthrowing a corrupt government.

  "Of course looking at it today, the speech had huge limits. It gave excessive emphasis on the relations between culture and politics and on literature's class nature, but ignored the human nature of literature," he said.

  "Our group of writers had already realized the limits when we wrote in the 1980s. We were trying to push through the limits during all our literary creation.

  "I believe many of my critics have not read my books. If they have read them, they should have known that I was at huge risk and under great pressure when I was writing.

  "Many criticized me for my close relations with the 'Ti Zhi' (the Chinese word refers to governmental departments or government-related sectors) and the Communist Party of China. But actually, many of my critics are working in the "Ti Zhi" or they themselves are Party members," the 57-year-old said.

  "The political stance doesn't contradict with the Nobel Prize," he stressed.

  "Books speak for writers. Their writing doesn't serve any parties or groups. Writers should be guided by conscience, face all people, study people's fates and feelings, and make their own decisions.

  "If you have read my books, you should know that my attacks on the dark sides of society are very severe and harsh," he said.

  Mo added that in three of his novels written in the 1980s, he mercilessly attacked all unjust phenomenons in his eyes from the stance of human beings.

  "If you regard me as an uncritical, official writer only because I haven't shout slogans on streets, then the criticism doesn't make any sense," he added.

  Mo, whose real name is Guan Moye, became the first Chinese national to win the Nobel Literature Prize in its century-long history Thursday, bringing joy to other writers and readers throughout the country.

  Born into a farmer's family in a village in Gaomi, Mo has been known since the late 1980s for his novels such as Big Breasts and Wide Hips and Red Sorghum, which was later adapted into a film by director Zhang Yimou.

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