First, literature is marginalized, and intellectuals are no longer on top. Poetry is dead and literature is dead. This is not a new concept, at least twenty or thirty years ago. Since the beginning of the new century, I have never seen a poem that people can remember, nor have I seen a novel that people can read in one breath. There are also literary creators. Are there any influential newcomers?
Speaking of contemporary poetry, the first thing that comes to mind is facing the sea, blooming in spring, facing the oak tree, far and near, a generation. Contemporary poetry has hardly remembered anything since it entered the new century. The same is true of novels. Traditional novels have no market for a long time, and books often have to be published at their own expense. Popular books are successful studies, parenting classics, and college entrance examinations. On average, people in China read only three or four books a year, and many people may not have finished reading one carefully for several years. But the electronic reading of online novels is very lively. The authors of online novels are all great gods, which are more popular than many famous contemporary writers.
For contemporary famous artists, we may be most impressed by Yu Hua, Jia Pingwa, Gu Cheng, Haizi, Yu, Wang Shuo and Yi Zhongtian. These people are still impressed, not by pure literature. Some people use movies, some people kill their wives, some people lie on the rails, or get involved in an event. Or make controversial remarks, in the form of mouth cannon, hundreds of forums. Only by words, there is no fertile ground for writers to survive. Therefore, Mo Yan's award does not make him a cultural idol. After all, everything is for money, and everyone is pursuing this thing.
Second, Mo Yan doesn't seem to have, or lacks, a distinctive masterpiece. Transparent Carrots is his famous short story. Red Sorghum is widely known for being made into a movie. The novel Frog, which won the Nobel Prize, is not as well-known as the title with more flowing temperament. He also frequently listed Sandalwood Punishment, Forty-one Guns, Fatigue of Life and Death, Wine Country and other works. Mo Yan has written more than a dozen novels, all of which may be good, but none of them can be singled out as masterpieces. Such as Lu Yao's Ordinary World and Chen's White Deer Plain.
A similar embarrassment happened to Jia Pingwa, a famous writer. He has written for decades and nearly 20 novels, but it is hard to say what are his representative works.
Thirdly, Mo Yan's works contain a lot of descriptions of the dark side of human nature, which is one of the reasons why Mo Yan has been criticized a lot. Nature is also the key reason why his works are difficult to become mainstream. In 2005, at the honorary doctorate conferring conference of the University of Hong Kong, Mo Yan delivered a speech entitled "How I Become a Writer", and said rudely that he was a writer who told the truth, which also showed his creative view:
"I have a prejudice that literary works will never be a tool for singing hymns. Literature and art should expose darkness and social injustice, including exposing the dark side in the depths of human hearts and exposing the elements of evil. "
These may be related to Mo Yan's special experience. Mo Yan is famous for his magical realism. Besides the influence of Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, he said that "imagination comes from hunger and fear". Therefore, in order to criticize realistically, Mo Yan insisted, "Even if there is only one reader left, I will write like this." He won't change his writing style just because of his readers, so even if some readers are stimulated and even have some disputes, Mo Yan thinks it's because he touched the depths of the human soul and lashed the ugliness. That's what I'm after.
Therefore, many of Mo Yan's works are excellent, abnormal and have many incredible descriptions. The mother Shangguan Lushi in "Big Breasts and Fat Buttocks" has nine children in her life, and her only son is a "breast-loving patient". Wait, that sounds more like curiosity.
Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he didn't become a temporary cultural idol. What do you think is the reason?