White cotton

Author: Mo Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: A thousand words can't compare to Mo Yan! Mo Yan calls himself "Mo" for speech, yet his pen is filled with countless words. Regardless of the subject, his eloquent and intricate style is his trademark. This is perhaps a game of self-mockery or self-affirmation for the novelist. Because of these countless words, he has also attracted countless attached voices from literary critics. Discussing everything about Mo Yan, from feminism to national discourse, has indeed led to many conferences and theses in recent years. But amidst the clamor in academia, Mo Yan seems to respond to everything with "silence." The various "claims" about the novelist's final aspirations must be based on this self-awareness. At the age of 17, the rural youth Ma Chenggong has always been infatuated with Fang Biyu, a young woman several years older than him, who is young, beautiful, upright, brave, and skilled. They are fortunate to leave the cotton fields together and come to the long-awaited cotton processing factory, where they meet Li Zhigao, a talented and charming young man; Sun Hedu, a demobilized soldier; "Iron Hammer," a social outcast; Sun Honghua, the daughter of a cadre; and others, thus beginning a new, busy life and an extraordinary love story.
The renowned contemporary Chinese writer Mo Yan, with his unique creative techniques, has gained fame in the Chinese literary world. To date, he has published nearly ten full-length novels and over a hundred short stories and novellas. His novels, with their vibrant colors, novelistic sensations, and rich, unique imagery, present an artistic world in the northeast countryside of Gaomi County, similar to Macondo in Marquez's works, to the extent that some critics have remarked that Mo Yan is China's Garcia Marquez. Memories of rural life serve as the material and background for many of Mo Yan's literary works.