Stop the presses! The results are in. The 2015 Mao Dun Literary Prize winners are, according to everyone's favorite rag sheet, the Global Times:
Ge Fei (Jiangnan Trilogy, 江南三部曲), Wang Meng (The Scenery Over Here, 这边风景 ), Li Peifu (Shengming Ce, 生命册), Jin Yucheng (Fan Hua, 繁花) and Su Tong (Huangque Ji, 黄雀记).
I suppose Wang Meng's The Scenery Over Here is our token "ethnic-themed" novel in the bunch. It is a god-awful choice, tho'; I had it mailed to me in Turkey and was very excited to receive. Set in Ili, the two-volume saga draws on the author’s experience of 16 years of life in Xinjiang, including the Cultural Revolution, during which he labored among the Uyghur and became fluent in their language. Wang Meng apparently wrote it back in the 70s but shelved it for some reason, but it’s not just out now, it’s been published in Chinese and Uyghur. It has won kudos for evoking an era when Han-Uyghur relations were simpler and more amicable, but frankly, I found it more or less . . . unreadable.
Perhaps the *real* news is this: Go here, click on the red link, and you can see how each of the judges voted for each of the ten shortlisted novels! Now, that's greater transparency for you.
The record of the votes won't tell us, unfortunately, *why* they voted the way they did. Seems to me it must have been to reward Wang Meng for his long career as a novelist, his former role as Minister of Culture, his devotion to the Party, and because his novel gives a positive spin to Han-Uyghur relations at a time when it seems the government is close to waging war on Uyghurdom. As for it being a great novel, well . . .
Comments
Aug 15 update: the 10-strong Mao Dun Literature Prize shortlist is out! See here for the full list in Chinese.
As I predicted, there is a candidate for the unofficial "ethnic-themed" category. In fact, there are two:
《这边风景》(lit., The Scenery over Here) by Wang Meng (王蒙)
《喀拉布风暴》(lit., The Kalabu Sandstorm ) by Hong Ke (红柯)
Both have spent considerable time in China's Xinjiang, and both are Han Chinese male authors.
Bruce Humes, August 15, 2015, 5:15a.m.
Stop the presses! The results are in. The 2015 Mao Dun Literary Prize winners are, according to everyone's favorite rag sheet, the Global Times:
Ge Fei (Jiangnan Trilogy, 江南三部曲), Wang Meng (The Scenery Over Here, 这边风景 ), Li Peifu (Shengming Ce, 生命册), Jin Yucheng (Fan Hua, 繁花) and Su Tong (Huangque Ji, 黄雀记).
I suppose Wang Meng's The Scenery Over Here is our token "ethnic-themed" novel in the bunch. It is a god-awful choice, tho'; I had it mailed to me in Turkey and was very excited to receive. Set in Ili, the two-volume saga draws on the author’s experience of 16 years of life in Xinjiang, including the Cultural Revolution, during which he labored among the Uyghur and became fluent in their language. Wang Meng apparently wrote it back in the 70s but shelved it for some reason, but it’s not just out now, it’s been published in Chinese and Uyghur. It has won kudos for evoking an era when Han-Uyghur relations were simpler and more amicable, but frankly, I found it more or less . . . unreadable.
Perhaps the *real* news is this: Go here, click on the red link, and you can see how each of the judges voted for each of the ten shortlisted novels! Now, that's greater transparency for you.
The record of the votes won't tell us, unfortunately, *why* they voted the way they did. Seems to me it must have been to reward Wang Meng for his long career as a novelist, his former role as Minister of Culture, his devotion to the Party, and because his novel gives a positive spin to Han-Uyghur relations at a time when it seems the government is close to waging war on Uyghurdom. As for it being a great novel, well . . .
Bruce Humes, August 17, 2015, 4:45a.m.